Forever Young
by Egyptian Kiss
Summary: Kendria Fell was Mystic Falls queen before she left for a 4 year education at NYU. Now that she's back with an architectural degree in hand, she plans to build her life anew. Werewolves, vampires, and jealous sisters aside;Kendria is about to discover...
1. Chapter 1

**Forever Young**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own the Vampire Diaries.

**Author: **Egyptian Kiss

**Pairing: **Damon/OC

**Rating: **MA

**Summary: **Kendria Fell was Mystic Falls queen before she left for a 4 year education at NYU. Now that she's back with an architectural degree in hand, she plans to build her life anew. Werewolves, vampires, and jealous sisters aside;Kendria is about to discover a centuries old family secret.

**Chapter One**

The Mystic Grill smelled like alcohol, sweat, and cheeseburgers. A slow song played on an old jukebox in the back by the pool tables, the hanging lamps giving a yellow cast to the atmosphere, and people chattering about day to day gossip hummed in the air. Kendria smiled. She was back home.

College had been a breeze. Four years in and then she was sprung with a degree in Architecture and a piece of paper with her name typed on it. Her mind flashed to Denny and Rachel and Cora – her apartment housemates. They had met when Denny pledged to a Frat as a Frosh and Rachel and Cora were taking Kendria around campus to learn the lay of the land as sophomore advisors. They were her pillars through her college years and looking around the homey bar she'd grown up eating in; Kendria wished they were with her. Rachel would be flirting with any guy in a ten foot radius of her and Cora would be shooting Jack like a pro. Denny would probably complain about the lack of night life before wiping the floor with any of the fools willing to challenge him at pool. And Kendria would roll along for the ride, high on happiness and a few shots of Cora's poison. Ah, college life, it would be missed.

Scanning the bar, Kendria sauntered in, staring at the décor – it had that Irish pub feel to it and the look of a nice restaurant. Booths were packed with teens that had only gotten out of class a few hours earlier and were complaining about upcoming finals. Families were interspersed in the crowd at wooden tables with sturdy, hand carved chairs. A few people lingered standing around tables and girls danced with reluctant boyfriends by the jukebox blaring in the backroom of the Grill.

"Can I seat you?" asked a cute, blond waiter. He had watery blue eyes and a slightly crooked nose. The way he smiled and the way he stood politely waiting cried boy-next-door.

"Actually I'm going to take a seat at the bar but thanks hun," Kendria said, smiling at him with a wink. He blushed and Kendria fought to control the silly grin fighting to tease her lips.

"You look familiar," he said and Kendria glanced at his nametag – Matt D.

"What's your last name?" Kendria asked.

She couldn't deny knowing almost everyone in town, by last name at least. Kendria Fell was a part of the prestigious Fell family that Fell's Church was originally named for, and due to circumstances of birth, Kendria had been raised as a proper lady with a four-year-running Miss Mystic Falls sash collection from high school to prove it.

"Donovan. I'm Matt Donovan. Sorry I should probably have introduced myself first," he said sheepishly, scratching behind his left year and he gave Kendria a lopsided grin that made her smile.

"Little Matty D? It's me, Kendria Fell. I used to babysit you and Vicki when your mom worked at the travel agency for two years. I'd swing by to snag you from middle school after I got out of class," Kendria exclaimed. She had been a sophomore in high school and the money she earned from picking them up and making them dinner five nights a week for two years had contributed to her college fund.

He looked at me confused for a second and then started laughing. He called something over his shoulder and Kendria watched as a very grown up Vicki stumbled out of the ladies room to their right by the bar and laugh at some guy she bumped into. He was young, maybe 15, and his sloppy, longish hair made him look like a slacker, that and the headphones attached to his neck and the bagged out jeans and graphic tee. Kendria had seen a lot of his type in high school, cute; nice; funny; druggy. Vicki redirected toward us after glaring angrily at the guy.

"Vick. Look who it is. Kendria Fell," Matt told her excitedly and Kendria smiled at her. She had become very pretty, as Kendria had always suspected she would, and her smile lit up her whole face. Long light brown hair and big, bright, white teeth that beamed at Kendria. She looked slender, almost too thin, and slightly strung out. She reminded Kendria of Cora – except Cora had blonde and pink hair.

"Kendria? Oh my God, you're back. I remember when you left for NYU. What was New York like? How was college?" Vicki hummed with nervous energy as she wiped at her raw, red nose and Kendria's brow wrinkled.

"Good. New York is after all the city that never sleeps. I just graduated from college life two weeks ago." Kendria blew a long piece of blue black hair out of her eyes and brushed her fingers through her side swept bangs. She wondered who would trim her layers and touch up her naturally blond roots when it came time for a retouch on her hair. The troubles of moving from one city to another.

"And you came back here?" Vicki asked, eyebrows rising as she glanced around at the Mystic Grill in what Kendria was convinced was an excellent impersonation of herself four years earlier.

Mystic Falls is a sleepy town with a long winded, boring history and very few opportunities for the adventuresome youths who grew up there, as far as Kendria Fell had been concerned college had been a ticket out. She'd been in parades, on floats, in clubs, on cheerleading squad, at every school game, to every high school party, and in every contest that challenged her ability to sing, act, dance, or perform like her mother's little china doll.

Kendria thought about her whole dysfunctional family as she looked at Matt and Vicki standing side by side smiling. She had never had that kind of camaraderie with her siblings.

Her older brother Logan Fell had become some big shot news reporter and moved as far away from Mystic as a plane could carry him, and now that he was 26, Kendria was lucky to hear from him once a year at Christmas time. They were only four years apart in age, but he was probably four thousand miles across the globe.

Her younger sister Rebecca Fell had embraced the tea-party life their mother pushed on them, following in Kendria's famed footsteps long before Kendria handed over her tiaras and sashes and traded up for an out-of-state education. Kendria could only imagine how happy 17 year old Rebecca would be at her re-arrival in town – not.

Her youngest sister Georgia Fell had taken more to Logan's way of thinking and after advancing four grades and winning a private scholarship to a European boarding school, Georgia had left the country – and she had only been thirteen. The day Kendria picked up the phone to hear that news she'd been in the middle of her Intro to Psych class junior year, and she'd completely ditched her group presentation on the brain. Kendria had never spent much time with Georgia because Georgia kept to herself and cared about school more than anything, including relationships. They were separated by eight years in age, but it might as well have been eighty for the handful of conversations that their sisterly bond had been forged from.

And where were Blaire and Henry Fell in all of this? What did they think of their children? Well Kendria wouldn't know much about how her parents felt about anything, let alone her siblings because they were always involved in some charity event, or traveling to another country, or starting another corporate empire, or opening a chain of antique stores along the West coast. Kendria knew her mother thought Rebecca was the family jewel because where Kendria had failed – and because Kendria refused to marry someone with a founding families last name right out of high school, she had indeed failed her mother – Rebecca had already chosen her one and only. Rebecca Fell had hooked up with the cousin of Tyler Lockwood, Nathaniel Lockwood, who stood to gain millions the day he turned 21.

"Yeah, I came back here," Kendria said, walking toward the bar, Donovan siblings in tow.

"How come? I mean, this place is pitsville. Who would willingly come back to Mystic Misery anyway?" Vicki groaned when Kendria sat on a round, black leather stool by the shiny wood bar top, and ordered a dirty martini from the butch looking woman on the other side. Kendria pulled out her ID for the bartender as she responded to Vicki.

"Shit happens. I wanted a change of pace. City life was fun, but I need a vacation from the hustle. And I missed my friends," Kendria said.

Kendria did miss her friends. Growing up in Mystic Falls she had had a lot of friends, a lot of them liked her more for her last name than for her personality, but she had three true girlfriends. First there was her brother's ex-girlfriend Jenna Sommers, several years her senior and apparently a surrogate mom to her niece and nephew, according to her last email. Then there was Victoria Knowlton who graduated two years ahead of Kendria and now had settled down with the third cousin of a Forbes and had taken happily to being a stay at home mother of two. Lastly there was Belle Jacobs – her partner in crime in all things. They must have been separated at birth, people joked, because Kendria and Belle shared one mind. Belle was rebellious – many play on words had given her Rebel as a nickname back in the day. They had smoked cigarettes together between classes, they had died their blond hair funky colors during lunch in the girl's room at school, they had lost their virginity to the same person (at different times), and they both lived to draw. Granted, Belle drew landscapes and portraits while Kendria drew buildings and structures, but together they had dominated every high school art class Mystic Falls High offered. Emails, phone calls, spring break visits- they all had somehow managed to stay in contact.

"Here you go Miss," the bartender said gruffly, placing the martini on a napkin in front of Kendria.

"What year are you now?" Kendria asked Matt and Vicki over my shoulder, turning to them while sipping from the delicate glass. The burn of liquor warmed her stomach and Kendria felt exhaustion settled in for the first time all day, she'd been driving since midmorning and it was already mid-afternoon, early evening.

"I'm a senior and Vick's a sophomore," Matt replied, tugging the tea towel over his shoulder and then he bent to wipe the bar by Kendria's glass.

"And we work here four days a week to pay the bills 'cause mom's off with whatever boyfriend she's screwing this week," Vicki added. Matt shot her a dirty look and Vicki rolled her eyes at him. Vicki's deceptively pretty features hid an ugly resentment.

"You shouldn't talk about her like that," Matt said. He had always been the protective, loyal type. Kendria remember how he used to fuss over Vicki in middle school and how he'd always acted like the provider – things haven't changed that much.

"Whatever, man. I got tables. Call me Kendria. We'll party. I got the hook up," she said, miming a phone with her hand as she walked backwards smiling at Kendria.

Shaking her head, Kendria smiled into her martini. Matt gave Kendria the once over and she crossed her legs. She hadn't been checked out lately and even though Matt was still in high school, he was cute and Kendria saw no reason not to give him a glance. Her black leggings and grey slouch boots shaped the contours of her long legs and high waist, a royal blue ruffle top clung in flirty drapes in waving shades of blue, and her long, wavy hair tumbled over her slender shoulder to her waist.

"You grew up nice, Matt," Kendria whispered to him, sipping from her glass with a sexy tilt of her head.

He looked awkward and nervous but excited and if someone hadn't walked in at that moment to catch his attention, Kendria was fairly certain he would have made a move. Little Matty D making a move on me, Kendria thought, shaking her head. She needed to find some lucky guy and get out some of her stress and all the tension she was carrying in her shoulders.

"Elena," Matt said, hopping from Kendria's side to the door a few feet back, and Kendria peered at the newcomers.

Long, dark brown hair that rippled like a rum waterfall, wide dark brown eyes, tanned skin, small body – Kendria could see the appeal of the girl's features. Sort of old world and exotic looking, Kendria thought. Her eyes wondered to the spiky haired hottie behind her. He had golden brown hair, forest flecked green eyes, and an intense, brooding persona accompanied with thick eyebrows and a furrowed forehead. Dark and brooding – and clearly obsessed with the dark haired girl. Next to them stood a chirpy looking blond whose head was turned toward a pretty African American girl with an underbite and flawless, silky skin. When the blonde turned her head, Kendria shrieked.

"Caroline Forbes!" Kendria squealed, jumping up from her seat and nearly running Matt and the rest of the group over, hurtling the distance to hug her.

"Kendria," Caroline shouted and her pretty, light features lit up. "Your back!"

"Hell yes, I'm back," Kendria exclaimed, pulling back to examine how much Caroline had grown.

Caroline was a natural beauty- gorgeous milky skin, delicate nose and lips, light green eyes, and a body that rocked. Her glowing blonde hair reminded Kendria of her own natural color and she wondered again about her roots, but pushed that insignificant thought aside. Caroline had also been one of Kendria's babysitting jobs, but they had bonded in a way Kendria never had with her blood sisters. They had giggled over boys together, gone clothes shopping together, talked about the birds and bees when Caroline was old enough – they had been solid until Kendria left for college.

"Someone got beautiful and didn't text me about it," Kendria teased, twirling the shoulder length blond hair around one of her long fingers – they were pianist fingers, and Kendria knew how blessed she was to have them because she had been subjected to enough recitals and motherly demands to have it drummed in farthest memories.

"Well if I got beautiful you turned into a full on hottie. God, college did you good. I love the hair," Caroline tittered and Kendria heard the dark skinned girl clear her throat.

"Hi I'm Kendria," Kendria greeted the others, shaking their hands in turn.

The hot guy brooding over the dark haired girl was Stefan and his obsession was Elena (the girl Matt had gotten all squirmy for) and then there was Bonnie.

"We're here to get something to eat and play pool. Wanna join?" Caroline asked with pep and Kendria shrugged.

"Sure. Let me grab my drink," Kendria said, but Matt had already retrieved it with a small smile and had handed it her.

"I'll take you to a table," Matt said, eyes devouring Elena from her black tee to her jeans and down to her tennis shoes. Kendria saw the pretty trappings, but Elena had said very little and her arm was possessively drawn around Stefan's waist. Elena clearly felt threatened.

They settled into the uncomfortable looking wood chairs and Kendria upended her martini and asked Matt to refill it before slipping him a twenty.

"That's too much," Matt argued.

Kendria leveled him a look.

"What's that saying in the customer service industry?" Kendria asked, tapping her chin sarcastically, eyes twinkling, "Something like, the customer's always right?"

He scoffed and Vicki stopped at the table with a pad and pen in hand, looking stoned off her ass. Ah the days of reckless fun.

"Scoot Matt, this is my table," Vicki said writing down Kendria's dirty martini and popping her gum at him.

"But Kendria –" he tried and I shooed him with a wink that made him blush even when he shot Elena a look of desire. She ignored him. Bitch, Kendria thought, narrowing her eyes.

"I'll take a salad, no croutons, no dressing, and a glass of water," Caroline ordered.

"Ew, Care, that's not healthy. You haven't eaten today," Bonnie said, Vicki scribbling uncaringly.

"I'm going to be Miss Mystic Falls and if I have to trim a few meals, well than that's what I'm going to do," Caroline replied.

"I never crash dieted before the contest, Caroline. It's not healthy and you look better with curves anyway. Plus you have the hot blonde factor working for you," Kendria offered.

"Sorry but no carbs will pass these lips until that sash and crown are mine," Caroline said, folding her arms over her chest.

"I'll take a cheeseburger and fries," Kendria said. "And make my martini a double."

"Rock the martini," Vicki said, winking.

"Chicken strips," Bonnie said.

"I'll just have a Coke," Elena said.

"Sugar, Elena, sugar. You're in this thing too, you know. You need to stay fit. We can't all look like Kendria naturally," Caroline preached, tsking. Kendria cracked up.

"I do not diet," Kendria stated. "And neither should you. They don't work."

"I think Elena is perfect," Stefan intoned, wrapping an arm over the back of the seat behind Elena's shoulder as she snuggled into his side.

"Cute, but the couple thing gets old fast. Seriously Elena, think about the calories. Make it a diet, Vicki," Caroline persisted.

"Whatever," Vicki said. She looked at Stefan with glazed eyes but he said a simple "nothing for me thanks" and she was off.

"God, she's so trashy. I mean, seriously, I love Matt, but Vicki's always stoned," Caroline said, not bothering to whisper. Kendria had always found Caroline's uncensored opinions endearing, but Caroline had grown catty since Kendria had left.

"Hey, Vicki has it hard," Kendria said.

"Yeah, her mom's not around and her dad ran off when they were little. She and Matt both have to work to make ends meet," Elena said. Kendria liked her a little better.

"You guys are just too nice to tell the truth. That girl's trouble and if your brother isn't careful, Elena, he's going to go exactly where she is – nowhere," Caroline said as Vicki came back with another martini and the rest of their drinks.

"At least I'm not a grade-A bitch, Caroline Forbes," Vicki said, smiling through her angry words.

"You sure about that?" Caroline asked, raising a single eyebrow.

"Hey, do I have to call a time out?" Kendria asked in her 'mom' voice. They both knew that voice well, Caroline even more so than Vicki because Kendria had babysat for Sheriff Forbes since her husband took a hike when Kendria was 14 and just starting as a freshman at Mystic High. They both looked at Kendria funny.

"I'm too old for a time out," Vicki said, smiling nicely.

"And I'm not afraid of what my mom'll say," Caroline added. That had been Kendria's main bargaining chip; straighten up or I'll tell your mom. It worked better when the mom was the sheriff.

Taking the martini in two swallows, Kendria held her glass up to Vicki with a shake. "I'm dry. I'll abstain from putting you in the corner if you'll get me another," Kendria teased Vicki and she took it, glaring pointedly at Caroline who returned the gesture, and then she strutted away. She stopped to talk to that same rough-around the edges cutie Kendria had seen her talk to earlier and he passed her a bottle of something that tic-ticked with a familiar pills-on-plastic sound.

"Did you see that? Jer just gave Vicki Donovan something," Caroline stage-whispered to Elena. Stefan glanced at Vicki's disappearing figure, and then at the kid.

"I don't know what to do about him," Elena said, sighing, and rubbing her temples.

"He's a nightmare lately, Elena. He came to history stoned yesterday," Bonnie informed her.

Bonnie, Elena, and Caroline seemed close, and Kendria vaguely remembered Elena and Bonnie from their pre-teen days when clothes and boy crushes were the main highlight of their lives – it seemed that drugs and sex were the only added differences.

"He'll come around. He's still grieving. He needs time," Stefan said softly, his intense gaze was locked with Elena's and they looked smitten. Kendria noted the way his arm settled behind Elena but wasn't touching her. Lots of mixed signals.

"Another martini," Vicki chimed and Kendria smiled, sipping slowly at it.

Vicki handed Kendria her burger and the ketchup, tossed a dressing-drenched salad at a protesting Caroline, and dropped the chicken strips noisily on the table top in front of Bonnie. She disappeared after Kendria caught her hand and slipped her a twenty.

"Big tipper?" Stefan asked Kendria once she'd taken a mouthful of cheeseburger. It was well done with a nice steamed bun. Mystic Grill burgers still taste amazing, Kendria thought.

"Sometimes. I babysat Vicki and Matt. Plus I waitressed at a Pizza place in New York all through freshman and sophomore year. Tips keep you going when your job sucks," Kendria explained and she felt a gob of ketchup hit the back of her hand and licked at the corner of her mouth. She licked the back of her hand and laughed when Caroline held out a napkin to her, nose wrinkled at the calories.

"You lived in New York?" Bonnie asked, her eyes lighting with interest for the first time.

"I just graduated from NYU. I went there the last four years," Kendria said, digging into her fries.

"Just watching you eat that I gained five pounds," Caroline said glibly, grinning. She was fretting with her salad and Kendria noticed the beautiful floral scarf that went with her patterned dress.

"I love that scarf," Kendria said to her as Caroline grumbled about Vicki and bad service.

Perking up, Caroline teased at where it tied and both Stefan and Elena exchanged a mute look.

"What's New York like?" Bonnie asked, bringing them back to the topic at hand.

Kendria explained the buildings and architecture of the city, the life of the city at night, what it was like to party in the dorms, and the grueling, academic challenges NYU offered. She told them about some of her misdeeds with Denny, Rachel, and Cora, and Caroline had grown green with envy by the end of the conversation.

"Stefan's new to town too," Caroline chirped as Kendria finished off her fourth martini and signaled Vicki for another. Vicki was a decent, attentive waitress, Kendria would give her that.

"Really? Where you from?" Kendria asked, accepting her new drink from Vicki as a nice buzz and warmth encompassed her. She felt giggly and tipsy. Always fun.

"Originally I'm from Mystic Falls, but I only just returned from visiting a friend and traveling the country. I wanted to finish out school in my hometown," Stefan said smoothly and Elena had that enamored puppy dog look in her eyes as she mooned over his every word.

"And he has one sexy older brother," Caroline said.

"Sexy older brother you say?" Kendria said, her tone flirty and fun as they migrated to the pool tables. Kendria hated pool because she was so bad at it. Give her beer pong any day. Or darts. Pool equaled suck-tastic for Kendria and she laughed at herself when she could barely break against Elena and Stefan, Caroline being her competent partner while Bonnie stood to the sidelines frowning at the door.

"You still suck at this," Caroline sing-songed as she took her shot and sank three balls before scratching.

"I have other more useful talents than being a pool shark, Caroline," Kendria said, drinking her fifth martini slower, leaning on the table, head tilted to one side as Elena flirted openly with Stefan.

"I'm wounded. Being a pool shark has been very good to me," said a new masculine voice and Kendria's abdomen tightened before she turned to receive the visual that belonged to that voice.

Sin from head to toe. Dark hair, forget-me-not blue eyes, lips that said kiss me, and the bod and clothes to match. He wore a black fitted shirt; black jeans that cupped a delicious ass; and a leather jacket that completed the epitome of walking sex. He was a billboard come to life, Kendria thought and she licked her lips and the rim of her martini glass. His eyes found her and a smirk settled at the corners of his lips as he stripped Kendria naked with his eyes. Her body visibly shivered.

"Damon," Caroline said salaciously, her hands coming to rest on the edge of the pool table, arms drawn together, chest thrust out for attention.

"Hey," he said, eyes roving the group. They locked on Elena for a second and then Stefan and finally back to Kendria – she used the reprieve to collect her cool and smiled a winning smile at him.

"What do you want, Damon?" Stefan asked, hands braced on Elena's shoulders. She looked horrified and Bonnie looked confused and upset.

Glass shattered and everyone turned. Vicki came up to the pool table. She had dropped her tray, which had Kendria's next/last martini on it and a line of shots for the rowdy group of men in the back at the other table.

"Stupid bitch, those were our drinks," shouted one of the guys wearing a beer hat and jeans that rolled up under the flab of his beer belly.

"Yeah and she did you a favor because that flap of fat doesn't need the calories," Kendria told him, hands on hips as she turned in that table's direction, and then she stooped to help Vicki collect the broken glass.

"Sorry, sorry," Vicki whispered shakily and Kendria shushed her.

"Please, like those rednecks need anymore. Or me for that matter. I can't be plowed when I go home. I'll get this. Go get Matt or somebody to help clean up," Kendria instructed. Vicki got up again, her eyes looking at Damon puzzlingly for a minute, and then she took off in a fast run toward the bar.

Shoes appeared in front of Kendria's eyes and she glanced up to see Damon crouching down to help her. She moved to sweep up the smaller bits with her hand and ended up getting it mostly on the tray. One piece caught in her palm and sliced open a nick at the center of her palm.

"Fuck," Kendria said, hissing, and she jerked her hand back.

Lightening quick, Damon caught her hand and held it. Their eyes met over where his hand held hers suspended between them. The blue of his eyes was breath taking, moving, warming, exciting, shivery – it was a whole lot of things that Kendria hadn't been familiar with in a very long time. Not since her last boyfriend a couple years back when she was still a freshman in college.

"Let me see," he murmured and Kendria's mind clouded over in a haze of seduction. She pictured herself with him in her bedroom on her queen sized bed with her satin white sheets. She pictured his lips closing over her breast, tongue teasing the nipple, and when she felt the wet press of his tongue on her palm the sensation was real and stimulating. Kendria moaned and closed her eyes, mouth opening a little as she gasped.

"Damon!" Stefan shouted and the thunder in it caused Kendria to snap back to the present.

Kendria blushed a pretty shade of pink when he smirked at her and she jerked up to a stand. Matt had shown up to help and he looked uncomfortable again as he shifted from foot to foot while Vicki stood back further. Kendria glanced to see Bonnie looking appalled, Elena disgusted, Stefan angry, and Caroline glowering. Not what she had hoped to accomplish her first night back.

"Can I get you another drink?" Damon offered Kendria, grinning rakishly.

Her nipples were still hard at the thought of his lips on her skin.

"I'm good thanks," Kendria said, leaning against the pool table short of breath.

"You need a band-aid?" Matt asked. He cleared up the mess faster than Kendria could have and he didn't cut himself once.

Taking a closer look at her palm, Kendria sighed. An angry pinkish red line split open half her palm and blood was still trickling out.

"I think I'll need a bandage. Can I see your towel?"

Matt stripped off his white and red checkered tea towel and Kendria pressed it against her palm while Matt took off to find a band-aid. Stefan was backing up from the pool table, eyes focused on her, and Kendria's brows flexed.

"He can't stand the sight of blood," Elena supplied.

"One of the cruelest ironies of life," Damon mocked. Elena glared at him and Bonnie excused herself to leave. Caroline said Bonnie was her ride and she gave Kendria a half-hearted hug.

White and blue labeled package in hand, Vicki came up and started administering to Kendria's hand.

"Does it sting?" Vicki asked.

"Not really. If I can stand getting a tattoo, I can take a cut," Kendria explained.

"A tattoo? Where?" Vicki asked, thrilled all of a sudden.

"My lower back," Kendria said, wincing when the antiseptic stung away the bacteria.

"Tramp stamp," Damon announced, leaning against the pool table with a scotch in one hand.

"What of?" Vicki asked, glancing at Damon with another peculiar panicky look.

"Just a word," Kendria answered, shrugging.

"I'm going to go find Stefan. It was nice meeting you, Kendria," Elena said, heading toward the door. Her long hair swished behind her and Kendria thought she saw Damon staring at her ass as Elena left.

"You too," Kendria shouted after her.

"What word?" Damon asked.

"Dreamer," Kendria replied. They heard the group of guys from earlier hooting at Vicki as she left to grab their drinks.

Kendria felt her phone vibrating in her back pocket and looked away from Damon's amazing eyes long enough to check the caller. Rebecca, her sister was calling. Damn, Kendria thought, she had wanted more time at the bar before going home.

"Let me buy you a drink," Damon tried again and Kendria looked him in the eyes. Again the haze started to build, but when Kendria would have finally agreed, she felt someone bump her shoulder – Vicki.

"Hey can you give me a ride home? My shift ends in ten and Matt's on for another two hours," Vicki asked, shaking out her hair as she tugged out her hair band.

Glancing at Damon again, his hopeful smile so endearing and Kendria wanted to tell Vicki no. She wouldn't though. Kendria had done a great many things but fail to help a friend in need did not make the list.

"Sure, Vicki. Go clock out."

"No on the drink then?" Damon asked, his voice smoky and seductive. Bedroom eyes, he had bedroom eyes. Black sheets, candlelight, amazing sex; his eyes were a dangerous call to the wild side.

"Next time," Kendria promised.

"I'll hold you to that. It was an honor Miss Fell," he said with a bow that surprised, flattered, and charmed Kendria.

"My pleasure Mr…" Shit, it would help if she knew his last name.

"Salvatore. And the pleasure is all mine." Damon winked at her as she had winked at Matt, and then sauntered to the bar.

Vicki, flushed, came out of the back in a pair of flare jeans and a low cut top. She stopped one last time by Jeremy's table and then came to Kendria by the door.

"Alright. Mattie knows I'm headed out so let's book it," Vicki said, looping an arm through Kendria's as they made for the parking lot.

Kendria glanced back at the Mystic Grill, a pentacle of her youth and her life in Mystic Falls, and then put the key in the ignition.

_**A/N:**_ Okay here's chapter one of my latest inspiration. Let me know what you think. Should I continue? EK!


	2. Chapter 2

**Forever Young**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own the Vampire Diaries.

**Author: **Egyptian Kiss

**Pairing: **Damon/OC

**Rating: **MA

**Summary: **Kendria Fell was Mystic Falls queen before she left for a 4 year education at NYU. Now that she's back with an architectural degree in hand, she plans to build her life anew. Werewolves, vampires, and jealous sisters aside;Kendria is about to discover a centuries old family secret.

**Chapter Two**

Mystic Falls still has that natural beauty about it, Kendria thought.

Mystic had always been slightly creepy. Growing up, Kendria would walk the woods with Logan who documented everything they did on his camcorder after his twelfth birthday – it had been a gift from their absentee parents who had been touring Greece at the time. Wherever Logan led with his camera, Kendria followed a few steps behind: climbing over dead tree trucks, falling over upraised roots, hurtling the creeks that crept the woods and into the river under Fell's bridge. Back then Kendria could remember liking Logan, having a connection to his livewire energy, all his questions about the world at large made Mystic seem as mystifying as the far reaches of the universe. Now he sent one lousy card and made one lousy phone call once, maybe twice, a year.

"Damon Salvatore is so fucking hot," Vicki said, head leaning against the passenger side window which looked out into the darkness of Sapphire Drive off Wheeler Road turn. They were close to Kelly Donovan's old place and as her '67 Chevy puttered on, Kendria could hear that the oil needed a change.

Damon Salvatore. He was hot. He was the epitome of hot. He was hotness squared. But there was this quality about him that left Kendria breathless, confused, and not altogether comfortable. He'd been friendly, that hadn't been the issue. He'd been amusing in his side repartee with Stefan and Elena, but there was a moment when everyone else had seemed to be holding their breath when he arrived, like he was a bomb that could explode any minute, and Vicki had dropped her tray at his feet with a look of horror that Kendria felt belonged in a slasher movie.

"He's sexy. And he's not in high school. You should go for it," Vicki said, turning her head sideways to stare at Kendria, her eyes glassy and her features were drawn in, hallowing out her beauty.

"He is sexy. But I just got away from the hoopla of being in a relationship not too long ago myself. Besides, I can tell when a guy has baggage," Kendria replied.

Turning into a cracked, paved driveway in front of the small, single story, Kendria killed the engine and twisted her torso to look at Vicki.

"How are you Vick? Seriously?"

Vicki opened her mouth to respond and then her eyes went wide and she turned to the Chevy's passenger side door, and shoved it open before throwing up all over the driveway.

"Vicki!"

Reaching across the vinyl seating, Kendria tugged Vicki's hair into a ponytail hold in one hand and held it aloft to keep it out of Vicki's mouth. Vicki heaved once, twice, and a third time and the smell of vomit and rotten eggs hit Kendria's nose strongly enough that she had to lift her face in the direction of her scratched up roof. The initials MB + KF were carved into the inside roof and had an uneven heart drawn around it in silver sharpie; Mike Burner had been her last true boyfriend, years ago, and Kendria remembered having had enough of watching him carve the damned thing and finally tossed him the permanent marker. It was still one of her favorite things to look at when she got in the Chevy.

"I'm good," Vicki whispered, voice scratchy.

Leaning up and away, Kendria tugged Vicki back into the passenger seat from where she hung half in and half out of the passenger side door.

"Are you feeling okay? Do you need to go to the hospital?" Kendria asked.

The whole situation reminded Kendria of something Cora would put her through. Cora had that wild fire that made her feet itchy with the need to move, dance, sing, party, drink, and sometimes disappear into a bathroom with a girlfriend and a bag of coke. Watching Vicki get to where Cora was already four years early made her angry, and protectiveness kicked in.

"What made you sick?"

Vicki rolled her eyes and wiped her mouth with the bottom of her shirt.

"Nothing. I took some medicine on an empty stomach, that's all."

Kendria remembered the exchange between Vicki and Jeremy and sighed when Vicki ducked out of the car.

"I'll call you later," Kendria shouted as Vicki said goodnight and fought with her keychain to find the right key before stumbling into her house.

The drive toward the Fell mansion was loud. Kendria played her iPod on full blast, Pink blaring in the confines of her car, and as the car ate mile after mile of distance, Kendria pictured her apartment in New York. It had been a cozy four bedroom with two bathrooms, high vaulting ceilings, and wood floors with oak cabinets. The Fells had barely agreed to let her live her life in New York, her mother constantly threatening to drag her back to Mystic Falls kicking and screaming, but they had seen to it that Kendria had found a beautiful, well-kept apartment. The rent was paid, the bills were squared, and twice a month Kendria's checking account received a five thousand dollar boost.

Not that Kendria had touched it. She had put all the money her parents gave her into one bank and then there was the one her parents didn't know about, the one she paid off her tuition with. Kendria had told both her parents she would pay for college herself, that money and prestige shouldn't matter when it came to cutting her own path – they had both laughed it off. That had been why she had taken up babysitting in high school and why she still had every dime her parents had dumped in her lap for the last four years. She had been a babysitter; bartender; cashier; waitress; receptionist; and dishwasher over the last eight years of her life, and she had a college education to show for it. She considered what her parents gave her an advance on her trust-fund (which had kicked in at graduation) and therefore a fat bonus. Kendria hoped to go apartment hunting day after tomorrow – the sooner she did that the sooner Kendria could leave her parents house for good.

"Pretty, pretty please; don't you ever, ever feel; like you're less than; fucking perfect," Kendria sang along to Pink's _Fucking Perfect_. It had been her anthem since the song came out and Kendria danced in her seat and then stopped with a giggle and a shake because the alcohol from earlier made the road blur for a second.

Something thudded against the hood of Kendria's car and she screamed as the car went into a tailspin and tipped precariously along the bank of the road. Her Chevy gave a lurch and Kendria slammed her body against the driver's door to try and lever it back on all fours, but it was too late and her body (why hadn't she worn a seatbelt?) tumbled as the car hit a tree and lay wedged on the side of the road at a tilt.

Coughing violently, Kendria squinted around in the dark. Her song was still playing and over Pink's voice she heard an ominous cracking. Wishing for some latent nocturnal abilities, Kendria looked at each window and when her back turned to the back window it shattered in an explosive bust, fragments of glass flew in all directions, and Kendria screamed again, ducking.

"Are you alright?" someone asked from the back window and Kendria shook, panicky tears making her nose clog and her eyes water.

"My arm hurts and I can't move my legs," Kendria called. Her legs were wedge under the steering wheel and the contorted driver's door. Something was caught on her right boot and Kendria couldn't move her left arm because it throbbed.

"I'm going to come around the side and try to get the door open," the voice said again and Kendria nodded shakily.

The noise the driver's door made before it disappeared was somewhere at a cross between grinding and groaning, and then it was gone. Damon stood beside her on the road.

"Shit," Kendria moaned when she caught sight of her arm, light flooding in through the now open doorway; it had to be fractured because the bruising looked awful and the gash that ran in a curve from wrist to her outer upper-arm bled heavily.

"Put your arms around my neck and I'm going to pull you out," Damon said and Kendria did as he said.

His neck was warm and he smelled like leather and cologne. When he pulled at her, she felt her legs come free and her whole body came up flush against his front, rubbing against him before he swung her up in his arms like a doll. Her legs hurt too and when Kendria glanced at them they were already bruising and her right thigh burned where a small nick of glass had lodged itself.

"Pretty lucky I was coming from the other direction," Damon said conversationally, and Kendria started to shake. "Okay, deep breaths. You aren't dead and we have to get this mess cleaned up. Stay with me, damsel."

"Oh I'm sorry am I distressed at the wrong moment?" Kendria asked angrily.

Danger flickered across Damon's features, but amusement settled in right after. He walked with sure strides to his car and placed her gently on the hood while he opened the backdoor. Nice ass, Kendria thought.

"I'd say you're holding up. Maybe you didn't need that last drink," Damon quipped. Kendria would have rolled her eyes or said something sarcastic (as was her forte), but she was caught up on one thought – something had hit and rolled off of her car.

"I hit something!"

"What?" Damon asked, head popping out of the backseat and staring at her.

"Right before I crashed. Something rolled off my car. Oh my God. Oh my God!" Louder and louder she got as she talked and Kendria blinked at the tears blurring Damon from her sight. She had hit someone!

"You probably hit a deer. They're all over the place. Take a pill," Damon said.

Damon picked her up again in his big, strong, hard embrace and put her down gently in the backseat. What a contradiction, Kendria thought when he disappeared again and walked back to her car. Her poor Chevy.

A few minutes passed where Kendria stared at the plain, perfectly conditioned roof of Damon's car – a new car, not a classic. Kendria had a classic and now it was in pieces on the side of the road. She had bought that car when she graduated high school and she'd paid for its many repairs. It sucked letting go of something you love, Kendria thought, sighing loudly in the quiet confines of Damon's backseat.

The jarring sound of Damon opening his trunk and putting something in with quick thuds made Kendria struggle to sit up, which left her panting. He was putting her bags in his trunk.

"What are you doing?" Kendria called out.

"You can't drive and I have a car. Unless you want to walk around naked the next couple of days – which I'm not opposed to – then you're probably going to want your bags," he said, coming to brace his hands on the doorway into the backseat, his head ducking in to peer at her as Kendria settled her back against the far door.

His hair was disheveled and windswept and Kendria wanted to fall in his deep blue eyes, but she wanted to get fixed up more than anything.

"Where are you taking me?" Kendria asked when he hopped in the driver's seat and took off at whiplash speed. He didn't dignify her with a response and when a looming three story home appeared in gothic glory, she had her answer – not her house.

"Is this your place?" Kendria breathed, leaning forward over the front seat a little, her head right beside Damon's.

Damon turned his head to look at her and she felt his breath on her cheek and the corner of her mouth.

"Yes. I live here sometimes. Right now is one of them," he told her and Kendria settled back in her seat because she was so overwhelmed by his gaze. She felt like a blushing teenager around him.

They pulled to a stop right out in front of the antiquated, boarding house doors and Kendria waited for him to open the door, and then she moved forward. Before she could think of standing, Damon had swept her up in his arms again and strode for the porch stairs. The door opened eerily on its own and Kendria stared wide eyed at the interior as he walked through a parlor, a sitting room with a fireplace, and into the kitchen. He unloaded her on the counter with less patience, and then he pulled the invisibility act and disappeared only to reappear with a first aid kit.

"Do you do this often?" Kendria asked to take her mind off the bite of pain she felt as he went down on his knees between her legs to clean them.

"What get between a beautiful woman's legs?"

A burst of appalled laughter left her and then Kendria laughed genuinely. "No, I don't doubt that part. I mean saving damsels in distress."

His face went from smirking to frowning to smiling charmingly again, eyes downcast. When his eyes meet her where he stood kneeling between her legs, Kendria's mind clouded over like a dream and next thing she knew she was all patched up and sitting on a plush, patterned black and gold trimmed couch in front of a roaring fire. The décor was immaculate and old world with European rugs and stylish paintings. The room was alive with warmth.

"Drink this," Damon said, standing in front of her like a dashing prince or daring Romance novel cover model.

"What is it?" Kendria said as she sipped it. Scotch, it burned the whole way down.

"Instant pain killer," Damon said, smirking darkly at her when he tossed back one and then another.

"I probably haven't said it yet, but thank you."

He gave her a look up and down like he was measuring her sincerity but a goofy, confident smile spread over his breath-taking face and then he was sitting with her. Kendria nervously tucked a stray strand of elbow-length hair out of her face and realized her arm wasn't hurting as severely as it had been, and it looked noticeably less swollen; maybe she had imagined it being worse. An enchanting, aloof aura just permeated at Kendria when Damon slung his arm over the back of the couch and helped to prop her feet up on the glass coffee table. Even her legs felt more normal and less achy.

"You are welcome. Not every day I get to play hero. I guess it can be fun. I get the appeal," Damon announced and then footsteps preceded someone else's arrival.

Glancing over her shoulder and the back of the couch, Kendria saw Elena and Stefan make an appearance. Elena looked horrified, but Stefan had this neutrality about him that was almost as calculated as Damon's flirtation.

"Kendria? Oh my God, what happened?" Elena asked, coming to sit close, but not on the couch beside Damon where there was a large, open space.

"My car went off the road. Damon saved me," Kendria said.

Stunned silence, or at least what Kendria assumed passed for stunned silence, took over the room, ringing from the high ceilings to the wooden, carpet bedecked floors.

"Damon saved you?" Elena asked; her brows furrowed in delicate arches and then she too carefully neutral. She said it slow like three separate sentences.

"Yeah, Elena, did you not hear her? I saved the day. Imagine that," Damon teased, hooking back another glass of fine liquor.

"And you're all right?" Stefan asked. He had a funny way of stressing words, even contractions, until every syllable had been perfectly pronounced.

Blinking, Kendria nodded, "Yeah, Damon fixed me up."

"Fixed you up?" Elena asked, her voice thoroughly incredulous this time.

Sighing in irritation, Kendria took a big swallow before nodding, "Yes, fixed me up. Do I have to repeat everything? He swooped in played hero; cleaned me up; and gave me this awful scotch."

"Hey!" Damon cried in mock offense, "My scotch is excellent."

Laughing, Kendria downed it and then shook it at him for a refill.

"Please and thank you," Kendria said when he took her glass with that amused smirk and filled it again.

Stefan had come around to stand beside the flickering fireplace. He did not look happy. In fact, if Kendria had to guess, he was completely unhappy.

"I'm glad you are well," Stefan said. Weird way of putting things.

"Thank you," Kendria said. She felt like a kewpie doll whose polite strings were being pulled.

"Fortunate I was there," Damon said, staring into his glass.

"We can give you a ride home," Elena said, standing up. Stefan held out his hand to her and Elena stepped into his side.

"I got it covered," Damon said, waving his hand to dismiss them.

Kendria was thrilled and nervous at the idea of being in a car alone with Damon again.

"No, really, we're headed out anyway," Elena tried again.

"No, really, I got it covered," Damon mocked.

"Kendria –" Elena started, but Damon was in her face in a blink.

Stefan wedged his way between them and tugged at Elena to follow him out the door.

"Have a good evening, Kendria," Stefan said and then took off as Elena whispered angrily into his shoulder, casting looks over the sitting room as they left.

"She doesn't like you very much, does she?" Kendria asked Damon when he retook his seat beside her.

He gave an exaggerated shrug, "I'm the villain she loves to hate."

"Villain? What do you flip flop between good and evil?" Kendria asked with a snort. She sipped her drink again when he laughed.

"If you only knew. I like you, Kendria Fell. Perhaps you blowing back into town will be all the more entertaining," Damon told her and Kendria's stomach did a dance.

"Well, I like you too, Damon. The whole saving me thing gives you bonus points," Kendria informed him.

Wind whistled through the air suddenly and Damon sat up straighter. Shadows dimmed the light in the room and growling could be heard from outside.

"What is that?" Kendria whispered.

A spike of apprehension rang forbiddingly in the air and then the darkness crept back and the growling stopped. Everything seemed normal again.

"There have been a lot of animal attacks lately. You should be careful at night," Damon warned her, head still moving to and fro, looking for some invisible tip off.

"Animal attacks in Mystic Falls? That's weird. There haven't been any since I was like 6. Maybe I better head home now," Kendria said, standing on unsteady legs.

"Want me to carry you?" Damon asked. That voice was like sex dipped in chocolate – so damned tempting.

"I'll manage, thanks," Kendria said.

Damon grabbed his leather jacket and keys and Kendria followed behind him through the beauty of the boarding house and out into the warm night breeze. Summer nights in Mystic Falls were wonderful: warm breezes, sweet flowers scenting the air, and stars dotting cloudless skies. Kendria used to love lying out at night in the garden beds behind the Fell mansion and staring up at the stars and singing to them. That had been New York's one failing, not enough stars in the sky.

"Your carriage awaits you, Miss Fell," Damon said, holding out his arm toward the open passenger side door looking every part the suave, debonair bachelor he was.

"Thank you kind sir," Kendria said. She gave him her best curtsey, which caused her to wobble and almost fall, had it not been for Damon. He caught up her hand in his steely grip and yanked her to his chest when she would have flopped over and felt like an ass. He kissed her hand and settled her in, seatbelt buckled.

When he got in, the space in the car felt smaller, and as they drove in relative silence, Kendria glanced at him from the corner of her eye. He looked completely at ease and virtually laid back as he drove, arm extended out over the back of her seat, other arm draped over the top of the steering wheel.

"So what was your major at college?" Damon asked.

Kendria wondered how he knew she had gone to college. She'd barely talked to him. Barely paid attention to him at the Grill.

"Architecture. I just graduated," Kendria said.

"You like to sketch buildings?" he asked, sounding bored to death.

"No, I like to build dreams."

"Big promise there. How do you build a dream?" Damon asked.

"I want to design houses for young couples and create cities. I want to make monuments and skyscrapers and bring back the gothic elegance of the nineteenth century," she replied.

Kendria knew she sounded passionate about it because she always did when she talked about architecture. She'd studied so many different civilizations and the peoples who built fantastic structures that now lay in ruin but had once been the hubcap of ancient life. She loved the Victorian look and the gothic style and the pull of the 1800's. Kendria loved to design.

They pulled up the long, winding drive through the black, wrought iron gate fencing that cut off her property from the rest of Mystic, and entered the pass code that allowed Damon to drive his car right up to the mansion. It was one of the oldest houses in Mystic Falls and the Fells had owned it since the town's inception. Wisteria and Weeping Willows lined the property and the large semi-circle driveway that came up and around and then back out to the front gate. Nothing had changed, not even the night blooming jasmine that wrapped around the pillars like Ivy and snaked over the smaller potted plants sitting in measured distances across the porch front.

"Nice house," Damon commented. He sounded sarcastic.

"More like a pretty prison. But I'll be out of here as soon as I find my own place," Kendria told him.

They climbed out of the car and Damon popped the trunk. He helped her unload everything in her front foyer and then turned back to her when he stood just inside her entryway. He looked dashing and cut quite a figure leaning against the white double doors that loomed fifteen feet high.

"Thank you again," Kendria told him and she leaned in with a rosy blush and kissed his cheek.

"Meet me for a drink at the Grill tomorrow at 7?" he asked her, running a finger over her cheek and chin until her eyes drooped and her mind clouded over.

"I'll meet you for a drink at the Grill tomorrow at 7," Kendria repeated back, smiling with a light shake of her head, and she heard the click-click of high heels on marble and new her sister was coming.

"Good. I'll see you then," he whispered and kissed her on the lips in a peck that was like a drive by, too fast and unseen.

Then Damon was gone, back in his car and speeding down the looping drive fast enough to spit pebbles in a wave over the grass and front steps – her mother would be appalled, but it put a smile on Kendria's face. Then she remembered her car tilted on the road and lost that glow.

"Took you forever and a day," Rebecca said when Kendria turned to her, closing the door behind her and leaning against it for support.

"I was in a car accident. I had to get fixed up and get a ride home," Kendria said.

Kendria took in her sister who she hadn't seen in four years and smiled softly. Rebecca had always loved her golden good looks. Her hair hug in a thick, straight curtain down her back like a fleece of blonde wool, and her bangs hid some of her naturally bright blue eyes. Her nose was bigger than Kendria's and her lips were thinner and her eyes not as big and wide; her cheekbones were higher and her hips curved out in a pear shape to Kendria's hourglass. They used to look like twins when they were younger, but it was almost like a dream that was how long ago it felt to them. Her sister still wore thick bangs and heavy make-up, only now it was heavier and her clothes were tighter and her eyes had a cunning slant to them.

Rebecca looked taken aback and then moderately contrite; not enough to help Kendria drag her four bags up the wide, grand staircase, but enough to open Kendria's bedroom door at the end of the third floor hallway.

"I'm glad you are okay," Rebecca said when Kendria plopped down in her room.

Kendria's room had stayed just the way she remembered it. Ivory walls with purple fleur-di-lis stenciled on and dark polished, wood floors. Her queen sized, white, sleigh bed was in the middle of the room with white sheets and a feathery white comforter that fluffed up when she sat on it, and purple pillows for days pilled at the head of the bed. White furniture was everywhere: a white painted dresser, a white wood desk, a white chest of drawers made of wicker, and three, wide, white bookcases with purple trim.

Kendria's trophies, sashes, plaques, and ribbons were immortalized in a high hung glass trophy case above the desk and her high school diploma was framed sitting on the desk below it. Hard cover books lined the two side bookcases and paperback romances filled in the middle. A small, white night stand strategically placed on the right side of her bed – the one she favored – held picture frames with photos of Kendria up on horseback, behind a baby grand piano, on stag as Miss Mystic Falls, and singing at the Christmas pageant when she was four. It was like time had stood still in her bedroom and Kendria no longer felt like she belonged among the pretty pieces and overpriced things. She remembered all of those occasions where she had outshone her peers and played the marionette to her mother's puppeteer, but the strings were missing now.

"An Ode to Kendria Fell," Rebecca said bitterly behind her. She hadn't moved from the doorway and when she looked around Kendria's room, an ugly jealous filled her face. It was a familiar expression that Kendria used to relish, but now wished would evaporate.

"Is that what this masterpiece was entitled? I thought it would be an Ode to the Fell Family or Society Miss Gone Wrong: the Teen Years," Kendria quipped.

She hated fighting with Rebecca, but that was all they seemed to do. Especially since Kendria was moving back. They fought on the phone, through text, in email, on Facebook and Twitter – sometimes Rebecca liked to Tweet her newest arguments with Kendria snapshot by snapshot.

"Look, I know you're back for like good, but stay out of my way. Come November I'm going to be a Lockwood and I'll run this town. You won't want to be on my bad side," Rebecca said snootily. Her head was held so high, Kendria wonder if she got nosebleeds due to the altitude.

"You have a good side? Never mind, I don't want to know. I'm going to sleep. Hit the lights on your way out," Kendria said, kicking off her boots and crawling into her bed – bloody bandages and all.

"I'll make you regret ever coming back to Mystic Falls," Rebecca threatened and then the lights went out and the door shut and Kendria fell asleep.

**_Author's Note_**: Wow I'm so happy that everyone likes this story so much. I enjoyed the reviews. Now to set some things straight with the plot. This story takes place in the first season. I'm probably going to take some liberties with the timeline (like the fact that it's the beginning of May and not Fall like on the show at the start of the season) and I'm not going to be sticking to the episodes closely. I do look forward to more reviews and I hope you enjoy this second chapter. Let me know what you think, EK!


	3. Chapter 3

**Forever Young**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own the Vampire Diaries.

**Author: **Egyptian Kiss

**Pairing: **Damon/OC

**Rating: **MA

**Summary: **Kendria Fell was Mystic Falls queen before she left for a 4 year education at NYU. Now that she's back with an architectural degree in hand, she plans to build her life anew. Werewolves, vampires, and jealous sisters aside;Kendria is about to discover a centuries old family secret.

**Chapter Three**

Kendria opened her eyes the next morning and regret zinged through her immediate. Light shone brightly in every corner of her room, the windows' curtains hung wide open on either side in floor length, ripples of purple velvet around the two 8' windows looking out at the backyard behind Fell mansion.

Groaning, Kendria rolled away from the light streaming in through the windows and closed her eyes again. Another new day, Kendria thought. She let her mind go pleasantly blank while she drank in the calm silence of her room. If she were back in New York in her apartment, Cora would already be up making coffee and smoking a cigarette, Rachel would be hogging the hot water in the bathroom, and Denny would be in the living room blasting music and playing Guitar Hero with his stoner friends.

"I should be happy it's quiet," Kendria said aloud. Her voice rang off the walls and ricocheted off the wood floors and bounced back at her from the high arched ceilings. But I'm not, Kendria thought.

Defeated, awake, and in need of some French toast, Kendria tossed back the covers and stood up. Looking down at herself, Kendria took in the loosening bandages and the blood spots on her clothes and the bed, but the dull throbbing from the night before had dissipated.

Kendria grabbed the nearest suitcase and dragged it into the bathroom. She flipped the lock on the twisted, gold handle and slumped on the counter around the sink. Tedious and torturous as it was, Kendria peeled off the crimson crusted strips of gauze Damon had wrapped around her legs and arm, and then she just stared. The ugly, mottled eggplant bruising that had taken shape just hours ago had disappeared, the gash on her arm gone, the aches missing – it was as if she had never been in an accident at all. Which makes no sense, she thought, running her slender fingers up and down her legs and her left arm, waiting for the sting that didn't come.

Unsure what to think, Kendria undressed and turned the silver handle in her tub/shower combo and washed her face with her traveling cleanser in the sink as steam filled up the bathroom. It too looked untouched and pristine: gray walls, maple countertop with a deep sink inset, and a mirror that ran from the door to the shower over the countertop, and luminous ivory tiles that felt cool under Kendria's bare feet. The water was hot and she spent twenty minutes just standing under the spray, watching as dried blood swirled in soft pink eddies down the drain, head resting against the tile wall of the shower.

Kendria thought about her car again and sighed heavily, turning off the water, and she stepped out after a thorough scrubbing and pulled a white cotton towel with lilac bordering off the silver rod rack on the wall opposite the toilet. She wiped the steam from the bathroom mirror, brushed her teeth with her travel sized Colgate and set out putting on her makeup and underwear before dragging her suitcase back into her room and flicking on the fan in the bathroom to suck out the steam.

A faint scratching noise against the windowpane alerted Kendria to the crow sitting on the sill outside. It was a pretty, ebony crow with big wings and it flapped them wildly at her, pecking at the glass, and hopping around excitedly.

"Go away Mr. Crow, I have a car to save," Kendria whispered, turning back to her suitcases and digging for something to wear.

Kendria heard its insistent scratching as she tugged on black leggings and a long black and pink sweater dress that clung comfortably and smelled like the Love Spell body spray Rachel wore on her dates – she must have borrowed it recently. Her boots from the night before were remarkably clean and Kendria tugged them on before shaking out her drying hair. She grabbed her favorite pink lip gloss and headed downstairs.

Henry Fell's study was the room straight off the side of the kitchen opposite the backdoor and while her French toast was cooking, Kendria went in to use the desktop computer that was replaced every year with the newest model. Even though her father was hardly ever home to use the damned thing, Kendria just knew he had it replaced every year – and to prove it a brand new, untouched, Gateway sat on his chrome desk.

The walls were papered with his degrees, her mother's Humanitarian of the Year plaques, and ribbons galore. This was the one room in the house that had carpeting rather than wood floors and the bright white of it was marred only by a single black stain just behind the desk. Kendria remembered that stain, she'd been eight at the time and her father had an old ink well with fresh ink and a new calligraphy pen. She had been forbidden to touch it, so of course Kendria had to and it had resulted in ink on the rug and a two-week grounding that was laughably easy to escape.

Even the gunmetal filing cabinets were still the same, three standing in a row behind the desk, against the wall, under the large mullion windows that overlooked the garage and the swimming pool in the backyard by the opaque white gazebo surrounded by her mother's prized sterling roses. Or rather her mother's gardener's prized sterling roses.

Kendria made some phone calls about towing her car, repairing the damage, and estimated costs while she munched on her French toast in her father's favorite black, leather, desk chair. Twenty-four hundred dollars, that's what Chet Nabner over at the local garage estimated two hours later while Kendria clicked around on the computer. The car had been towed to his garage and he'd looked it over. Kendria had known Chet since she was twelve and Logan got his first car – which he wrecked in a two-point-five seconds backing out of their driveway. He was an honest man and Kendria gave him the go ahead to start working on it.

Once that was squared away, Kendria called a cab and had it take her over the garage to grab whatever personals hadn't been lost in the crash.

"Kendria Fell!" someone shouted from across the street when she stepped out onto Main Street out front of Chet's garage.

A pleased smile broke out over her face, immediately knowing it was Belle Jacobs, and turned around to see her best friend sprinting through four lanes of traffic to get to her.

"Depends," Kendria shouted back as Belle paused halfway through to let a car blow passed her while she flipped off the driver, "Did I steal your boyfriend?"

Belle Jacobs was one of the prettiest people on the face of the earth. Her platinum hair shone like silver in the sunlight and her sea foam eyes were an enviable shade of green and sparkled like crystals. She was short, 4' 11" to Kendria's 5' 7", but she made up for it in leg. She was petit and had the body of a dancer – or as she had been in high school, a flyer for the cheerleading squad. Her lips were puffy and even Angelina Jolie would be jealous. She'd cut her hair since Kendria had seen her in March, two months ago, for spring break –it was styled like a page boy cut with light brown highlights.

"You did, but since it's been six years, I'll let you off the hook," Belle said, out of breath from dodging cars, as she locked Kendria in a hug.

"Well than yes, that's me," Kendria teased.

They shared a couple cheek kisses and Kendria explained about her car. Belle shook her head and reminded her of the time they had stolen Logan's car and wrapped it around a pole in the Target parking lot – and a brand new speeding ticket in the glove compartment courtesy of Kendria's illegal park job.

"Well I guess I've improved since I didn't have a parking ticket this time," Kendria said.

Belle's tinkling laugh filled the small, front room of the garage where a single counter filled up the room and two, orange plastic chairs sat against one wall for waiting customers. Belle hopped up on the counter and hit the bell six or seven times repeatedly before Joey Goodson came out with an irritated scowl on his face. Joey had always worked for Chet and the two of them were fishing buddies. His gray beard and black eyes made him look like a cranky, old sea captain, but when Belle beamed her megawatt smile at him, Joey melted.

"If it ain't the troublesome twosome. You think I'm deaf now, Belle Jacobs or were you just eager to see me?" Joey said.

Joey smiled and two gold teeth peeked out the left corner of his mouth; Joey had always claimed he'd been in the Vietnam War when he was in his early thirties and the enemy had taken him as a POW and knocked out his side teeth while torturing him for answers he valiantly withheld. His daughter Maggie, however, claimed a horse had kicked him in the mouth when he took her for a pony lesson when she was still a kid, not the forty year old wife of one of the local deputies.

"I'm always eager to see you, Joey," Belle flirted, batting her eyes at him as if he was a good looking twenty year old – her flirtation was non-discriminatory to age.

Joey laughed his guffawing laugh that made him cough his smoker's cough, and then grinned in Kendria's direction. "What about you, honey? How you been? I seen you car back there – it's a nice find. You back here for good? Done with book learning?"

"For now. Speaking of my baby, how's the Chevy?" Kendria rejoined. She liked Joey; he was nothing but a softy.

Twirling the end of his beard around his finger, Joey answered, "She'll be up and running by tomorrow. You got lucky you didn't roll. We'll have to replace some parts and put in a few new windows. You can pick it up at noon."

"Aw thanks, Joey. I'll be by to pick it up as soon as I can," Kendria said.

"I'm hungry," Belle announced, hopping off the smooth, robin's egg blue countertop and she walked to the door. "Let's beat feet. Later Joey. Love ya."

"Goodbye Rebel," Joey called as Kendria whispered a farewell and took off after Belle.

"So you glad to be back?" Belle asked, hands slipping down into the small pockets of her white denim cut-offs.

Kendria thought about it. Was she happy to be back? Sure. She missed Mystic. But a part of her didn't feel like something had clicked yet, something vital.

"Sort of. I'm glad to see you haven't changed. I ran into a bunch of people last night at the Grill. And I met a really hot guy."

Belle gasped exaggeratedly, pretended to stumble and then grabbed Kendria's arm with her eyes widened in fake shock. "Do I detect actual interest in a guy?"

"Knock it off. I know it's been a while," Kendria said. She loved when Belle did this – teased her and made her spill her girly guts.

"So, do I get a name with that byline or do I have to guess?"

"His name is Damon Salvatore, smartass," Kendria razzed, following as Belle led her around the middle of town and into Denny's. They were seated quickly and they both ordered Sprites and waited for the red-haired waitress with the monotone voice to take off before continuing their conversation.

"Wait, Damon Salvatore, as in a founding family Salvatore?" Belle whispered, mocking her. Kendria admitted she had avoided most boys from the town's founding families back in high school, if for no other reason than to frustrate her mother, but she was older now.

"Do you know of any other Salvatores that live in Mystic Falls?"

"I haven't even met him yet. How is it possible you met someone in town before I did and I live here?" Belle asked, crossing her arms and leaning back in the booth.

"I am Kendria Fell after all, I know everyone," Kendria said, raising her head in mock pride and then bursting out into giggles as the red head came back with their drinks.

"I want mozzarella sticks. With ranch!" Belle told the waitress – Agnes, so say her nametag – and she scribbled it on the order pad.

"And for you?" Agnes asked, boredom clinging to every syllable.

"I'll get a Caesar salad and buffalo chicken strips. With extra, extra ranch," Kendria said.

Kendria threw a smirk at Belle when she said the last and blew her a kiss when Belle flipped her off. They had a long standing inside joke; Belle was obsessed with ranch and Kendria was her enabler at restaurants. It started when they were sophomores at Mystic Falls High and they ordered mozzarella sticks in the very Denny's they were sitting in now, and Belle had to keep ordering more ranch. The look on the waiter's face had been annoyed and disgusted and to this day they had an agreement that Kendria always ordered extra servings of ranch.

Agnes took off toward the bar by the cook's window and Belle resumed her questioning.

"So when you say you met a hottie, how hot are we talking? Scale of one to ten, ten being surface of the sun," Belle asked.

"Ten squared," Kendria said, sipping her Sprite.

"Yum. I want one. Does he have an older brother?" Belle teased.

"Actually he has a younger brother, almost as good looking, but he's in high school and he's taken."

Pouting, Belle rolled her eyes. "Figures. So what's this guy look like? What'd he say? Come on, I know it's been a couple years since you've liked a guy, but you have to remember girl talk."

"Black hair, blue eyes – and I mean blue, not like water blue or too dark to tell blue, but forget-me-not blue, icy blue. And he's sexy. He dresses nice and he smells amazing. And his hands are so soft," Kendria said, trailing off as she pictured him. She felt her stomach act up and she couldn't wait until 7 rolled around.

"His hands are soft? And you know this because you shook his hand, or am I missing something you need to dish?" Belle asked, leaning forward on the Formica table top, hands clasped together and her fingers creating a bridge for her to rest her chin on.

Kendria gave her a quick rundown of the night before and their food arrived just as she got to the part about meeting him at 7.

"So, basically what you're telling me is that you were in town for less than three hours and you got a date with one of the hottest guys in Mystic Falls? This is so not fair. I haven't had a boyfriend in weeks and I need to get laid and you're the one getting dates? Well, I guess, in all fairness, you need to get laid way more than I do," Belle said with a shrug. She popped a ranch slathered mozzarella stick in her mouth and made a face when Kendria threw a crouton at her.

"How do you know I haven't been doing the bedroom tango? For all you know, I've had a new guy every night since you left me in March." Kendria said, sticking her tongue out at her best friend as she ate her salad.

Belle's thin, sculpted eyebrows raised and she pursued her lips, "In that case, we need to reevaluate this conversation. Maybe you should be charitable and let us single, desperate women have Damon Salvatore."

Snorting, Kendria said, "You could have guys throwing themselves down to make a body of bridges over puddles for you and you want me to believe you're desperate? Yeah, okay."

Laughing, Belle shrugged.

They finished out lunch together and Belle offered Kendria a ride back to the Fell estate in her new Jeep Wrangler. It was black, shiny, and brand-spanking-new.

"It was a gift from Linda. I guess when you win Deadbeat of the Year as your honorary title as a mother, you feel compelled to send big gifts when you marry into money," Belle chirped when they walked back to Main Street and headed out.

"Linda really married that loser? I thought you said Marvin didn't have a job, how did he get rich quick?"

"Someone in his family died and left him a nice chunk of change. Linda's an idiot for marrying him. They'll burn through his inheritance by the time Christmas rolls around and she'll be asking me for money again. And I'm not helping her this time. I'm tired of it."

Linda Jacobs had always been all about Linda Jacobs. She was like Kelly Donovan except she stuck around to drag her daughter through hell whereas Kelly just skipped in and out of the picture with the random guys in her life. She used up the child support checks her first husband, Todd Jacobs, had given them from the time he left Belle when she was nine until she turned eighteen, in a matter of days. During the weeks that Belle didn't have a place to stay because Linda spent the money on clothes or food instead of rent, Kendria would let them stay in the pool house behind the garage – no one used it and it was the only place Kendria's parents never went.

"I give them three months of married life before he dumps her," Belle said.

"Don't say that. As long as she's with him, she's not with you."

"Too true. Alright; same gate code?" Belle asked when they pulled up to the main gate of the Fell mansion.

"Yep."

They shared a hug and a couple more cheek kisses and then Belle took off, spraying gray pebbles in a shower over the grass and Kendria laughed, thinking about what her mother would say.

The time between three o'clock when Belle dropped Kendria off to six thirty when she called another cab to take her to the Mystic Grill was spent sketching on the veranda outside the kitchen facing the pool. Dark, stained rockers and white wicker chairs sat along the veranda overlooking the backyard and three circular glass and chrome tables stood measured distances apart. Kendria dropped into a rocker closer to the pool and stared at the well maintained, crystal clear water. It was a heated pool and it lapped in gentle waves against the lip of concrete that surrounded the Olympian size rectangle.

By the time she walked into the Grill it was once again bustling with people, mostly teenagers, and Kendria still had ten minutes before she was supposed to meet Damon. She hadn't changed her clothes, but in a nervous habit as the clock counted down, Kendria had applied her midnight black eyeliner and light pink eye-shadow and touched up her lip gloss. Makeup was like a suit of armor and dating was like a battlefield – it only seemed natural they go hand in hand.

"Martini?" Matt asked, popping up in front of her when she reached the bar. His hair was a halo under the dim glow of light that ran along the ceiling circling the bar.

"And make it dirty," Kendria said with a wink.

"Mm, that sounds like fun," Damon said, taking a seat next to her, his leather jacket brushing against her as he leaned in to kiss her cheek. Tingles erupted where his lips touched her skin and Kendria turned to him as he settled down.

Matt stood stock still for a moment and he gazed appraisingly at Kendria and then at Damon before mumbling something to a middle-aged man with salt-and-pepper hair as he set down Kendria's drink and disappeared.

"I'll take a scotch and keep 'em coming," Damon told the bartender and the man poured him the best in stock – neat.

Damon wore a blue shirt and black jeans and his sexy leather jacket, and Kendria's insides clenched when he smirked at her over the top of his glass. He toasted her and Kendria clinked her glass to his before taking a sip.

"You look beautiful," Damon said after his glass hit the counter empty.

"Thank you. You look sexy," Kendria said, winking at him, feeling at ease and flirty where last night she had been a mess of nerves. He gave her an enchanting smile that made the butterflies in her stomach take flight.

"I'd say I try, but I don't think you'd believe me," he whispered seductively. Oh, he's right, Kendria thought grinning into her drink.

"Have a high opinion of yourself, don't ya?"

"Only 'cause it's true," Damon said, drinking his newly refilled glass.

A bitter chill ran up Kendria's spine when the door opened with a chime and a gust of whipping wind swept in from outside. It hadn't seemed cold earlier, but an unusually cold windstorm had obviously started up from outside.

"I'll take a shot of vodka," Kendria said, turning to the bartender whose handlebar mustache twitched in response. He poured and served it fast and Kendria appreciated the skill it took to serve a bar full of clients and still pop up at just the right moment with a refill.

"Oh are we doing shots? Okay, I'll take one too," Damon said to the bartender and he locked eyes with Kendria as she waited for his drink, and then they shot back the vodka together. Kendria didn't think it was smart to mix scotch and vodka, but if Damon had the iron stomach for it, she wasn't going to lecture him.

A full body shiver ran up from her toes and Kendria laughed. "I love vodka."

"And I love a woman who can drink," Damon informed her, leaning his body in closer to her. Damon settled a hand on her thigh closest to him and the feel of his fingers sliding up her leg to the edge of her sweater dress made her core wet and she tapped the bar for another shot.

"Well I wouldn't want to disappoint on the first date," Kendria said.

When her eyes locked with Damon's, a smirk lingering on his lips, she realized she had just defined their little get together as a date without him actually verbalizing it. Great. Great. Great. Oh well, too late to snatch those words back, Kendria thought with a shrug and then decided to roll with it. She took her shot and glanced at his empty one with a challenging lift of her eyebrows.

"Oh, do I sense a challenge? Another shot please, barman and make it snappy. I'd hate to keep a lady waiting," Damon said and the bartender, clearly irritated, filled the glass and left the bottle.

"So tell me Damon, what do you do for a living?" Kendria asked, picking up her new shot and downing it at the same time Damon did. They synced up their shots and took two more before he answered while she gritted her teeth against the bite of liquor. Her stomach had settled and a divine warmth radiated through her whole body.

"I don't really have a set job title. I help the sheriff out sometimes, but I'm mostly looking after my brother," he answered, but there was a mocking edge to his answer that Kendria couldn't quite figure out.

"Where did you live before you moved here?" Kendria asked and they took a shot. His hand brushed hers when she reached for the Grey Goose bottle and her eyes jumped to his lips, they were moist and Kendria fought the urge to do something foolish – like make out at the bar.

"Here and there. I travelled a lot. I'm originally from Mystic Falls, but it's been centuries since I've been back," he said. His eyes were bluer because of his shirt, Kendria thought. She must be getting drunk because her thoughts had become decidedly more sexual.

"Where are your parents?"

"Dead." He said it with such a straight, uncaring face that Kendria winced.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring up something touchy," Kendria said.

"You didn't. It happened a long time ago."

"So it's just you and Stefan then? He seems nice," Kendria said.

Damon scoffed, "Saint Stefan does tend go over well with the ladies. We're not really close."

"How come?"

Damon didn't quite stiffen, but the air charged with negative energy and Kendria wished she could pluck her question out of the air and swallow it with her next shot.

He turned those blue eyes on her and Kendria noted the hard glint there.

"You have any siblings?" he asked.

"Three. An older brother and two little sisters," Kendria said and they clinked their shots together and downed them as the volume in the bar went up a little and Kendria had to strain to hear him.

"Let's just say, Stefan and I have a long, ugly history of sibling rivalry and it destroyed any chance of us ever being close," Damon said and a dark shadow crossed over his face, his eyes narrowed and forehead lined in thought.

"I'm sorry to hear that. I hope it's not true. I know what it's like to have an annoying younger sibling and I wish things were different all the time. I mean, when I was younger I really got into getting one up on my sister Rebecca, but now it's just exhausting. Like I'm expending all this energy fighting over stuff that doesn't even matter anymore," Kendria said. Her mood was taking a less pleasant turn with the alcohol heightening her emotions and she sniffed back tears.

"Hey now, if I remember correctly, this is supposed to be a date," Damon said, and his jubilant, mocking smile was back.

Giving a short laugh Kendria nodded, "Yeah, I think that was the deal. I could be wrong, but somebody asked me to have a drink with him and I think that constitutes a date."

He leaned in so close their breath intermingled, teasing their lips, and he kissed her. Kendria almost forgot to breathe as her eyes slid shut and she moaned against his lips. The nerve endings in her lips came to life and buzzed and tingled and her tongue slid out when his slid in her mouth and he tasted like vodka and spice.

A loud throat clearing announced a new arrival.

Breaking apart, Kendria blushed and then giggled – really, honest-to-God, giggled – before turning to the person standing beside them. It was Matt.

"Um, sorry, Kendria, but your sister's on the phone in the office," Matt mumbled, blushing like a cherry to the roots of his pale blonde hair. He was adorable and Kendria giggled again when he turned away and she shared a look with a smirking Damon.

"I'm sorry. I'll be right back," Kendria whispered, kissing him on the lips again because she couldn't help the happy, giddy feeling of it, and then she spun around and marched – actually marched – into the back office. It was full of odds and ends paper piles and a black metal desk with a '90's wall phone that hung down the wall, the phone resting on a pulled out metal sheet that slid in and out of the right side of the desk. Fluorescents lit the room from above and the walls were a dingy eggshell.

Picking up the phone, Kendria pressed it to her ear and jumped a little at the coolness of it before answering, "Hello?"

"Kendria? Some guy called about your car and you're not going to believe this – Logan's home. He walked in an hour ago and said he was here to stay for a while. I can't believe you two decided to move back now. Do you know how –"

"Logan's back?" Kendria asked, sobering a little, but tipsy enough to flop into the brown, swivel, desk chair.

"Yeah, and I'm so not babysitting him. You know how Dad hates it when he's home and Dad's not. Can you come home?"

"No. I'm on a date and I'm not leaving just because Logan is home. Is that the only reason you called?"

"Yes." And then there was a dial tone. Oh the joys of having siblings.

The office door opened and closed and Kendria looked up to see Damon leaning against the door, arms folded over his chest. Kendria stood up and came around the desk.

"Couldn't wait for me to come back?" she asked.

Damon unfolded his arms and the next thing Kendria knew, her back was the one pressed against the door and his lips were on hers. They were warm and thrilling and his tongue did things to hers that made her toes curl in her boots and her back arch up to meet his muscular chest. He kissed her until she couldn't breathe and his hands came to the back of her thighs, hoisting her up so that her legs wrapped around his waist and the bulge of his erection pressed against her heated core. The feel of denim against denim created a sensual friction and Kendria broke her mouth away from his, turning her head to the side to breathe, as he trailed hot, hard kissed along her neck.

Sensations rocked through her as Damon's tongue swirled from her ear to her collarbone and back to her pulse, and he sucked at it, harder and harder, and she moan.

"Oh, Damon," she whispered and then he bite down – hard. "Fuck." It felt like he broke skin, but she couldn't be sure because the feel of his tongue on her neck and the gentle sucking of his mouth made her second guess herself. Why would he keep sucking if he'd broken skin, and the piercing throb of the hard bite had ebbed. "Ohhh," she moaned when he pulled back and kissed where he'd been sucking.

Loud, obnoxious, wrong-time-to-happen knocking broke the lust of the moment and Kendria dropped down to her two feet again as Matt pushed the office door open. The way his eyes traveled over her made Kendria's hand self-consciously slid over where Damon had been kissing her neck, and she pretended to rub at some invisible ache. Which now that she thought about it was not so invisible.

"Sorry, I need to make a call. We're out of straws," Matt said, eyeing Damon up and down.

Damon pulled Kendria to his chest just when her heartbeat was starting to slow down from the rapid excitement of being pressed against him and it started back up again. He tugged her out of the office as Matt entered, and they retook their seats at the bar. Their shot glasses and the Grey Goose were still sitting there waiting for them.

Two shots into their new conversation about New York – which Damon said he had visited a while back – We Are Who We Are by Kesha started to play in the bar and Kendria stopped midsentence and hopped off her barstool while Damon stared.

"Come on dance with me," Kendria said, grabbing his hand and tugging him toward the open space near the pool tables that allowed people to dance.

"I like it when a woman knows what she wants," Damon said, his hands going to her hips as Kendria began to sway them suggestively to the beat. She loved Kesha and this song screamed Cora – whom blasted Kesha's CD every night as she got ready to go out.

"We'll be forever young; you know we're superstars," Kendria sang to the music, her voice climbing as Damon's hands skimmed up her body and rested under her breasts, his thumbs brushing their underside and his lips teased her neck and ears and she thrust back against him, throwing her hands in the air as the beat hit a high point and then bringing them back to caress his neck over her shoulder.

Several teenagers joined in once they had started dancing and soon Kendria was pressed more firmly against Damon in the crush of bodies. The smell of sweat and the rising heat of bodies pressed together caused her adrenaline to rush and she took a deep breath when Damon pulled her back towards the bar away from crowd as the song ended.

"That was so much fun," Kendria said, panting.

"I'm a fun guy," Damon teased.

"Hm, I think I agree with you," Kendria teased back and she laughed when he waggled his eyebrows at her comically.

The bartender had taken their shot glasses and the bottle of vodka off the bar and when they sat back down; Kendria felt the need to slump against the bar. The smell of cheeseburgers made her stomach roll and the room moved a little bit, but she took a few deep breaths and smiled at Damon.

"Damon?" Caroline asked, suddenly appearing from the entrance, and sidling up to Damon.

Kendria watched him spare Caroline an annoyed glance and Kendria took upon herself to respond, "Hey Caroline."

Caroline seemed confused for a minute as to why Kendria was there, and why Damon's attention was solely on her, and Kendria watched as reality dawned in her mind. And then Kendria was on the receiving end of a very Mean Girls stare down.

"Hi Kendria. What are you doing here?" Caroline asked and Kendria wanted to sigh.

"She's on a date with me. So scram," Damon finally said, looking Caroline in the eyes again. Caroline's frown lines disappeared and she smiled.

"Okay. Bye." And she walked away just like that.

"You didn't have to do that. I like Caroline. I used to babysit her in high school," Kendria said.

Damon's eyes scanned her from head to toe and he shrugged, "She's a little clingy. And I'm on a very important date."

Heart gushing with renewed vigor, Kendria smiled, biting the corner of her lower lip and fought down her drunken giggles, "Oh yeah? Special girl?"

"Special woman," he said in his sexiest voice and her nipples hardened when his eyes held hers.

Clearing her throat for a modicum of control, Kendria asked for water from the bartender and then met Damon's stare head on.

"I'm going to finish this water and then I'm going home." Kendria announced and Damon looked confused, but she continued as the water was set on the counter in front of her. "Am I going alone?"

His smirk was back and Kendria could honestly say she had never finished a glass of water so fast in her life. He threw down a fist full of cash on the bar and offered her his hand. As they exited, she barely noticed Caroline's glare from across the room or Matt's intense staring from where he stood near the door clearing tables. Her mind was too consumed with Damon and his hot hands to even care.

_**A/N:**_ Thank you guys so much for the reviews! A special thanks to Kb, I always appreciate when my readers look at my other fanfics. You rock! I'm please to hear everyone likes Kendria's character - she just begged me to write and I couldn't resist. I am looking forward to hearing your thoughts on this chapter too. I'm not always this good about updating stories, but I'm on a hot streak right now. Enjoy. Let me know what you think. EK!


	4. Chapter 4

**Forever Young**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own the Vampire Diaries.

**Author: **Egyptian Kiss

**Pairing: **Damon/OC

**Rating: **MA

**Summary: **Kendria Fell was Mystic Falls queen before she left for a 4 year education at NYU. Now that she's back with an architectural degree in hand, she plans to build her life anew. Werewolves, vampires, and jealous sisters aside;Kendria is about to discover a centuries old family secret.

**Chapter Four**

Kendria dangled her hand out the open passenger side window, the wind rippling over her hand as she waved it whimsically to the beat of the song on the radio. Her head buzzed with the cloud of liquor that frayed away the edges of her inhibition. They were almost at the turn to her driveway when she turned her gaze on Damon who sat, one hand draped over the steering wheel, watching her out of the corner of his glimmering blue eyes – clearly amused.

"What?" she asked, giggling.

"For all you know I'm a psycho murderer and you're inviting me back to your house. Didn't you mother ever teach you self-preservation?" Damon asked.

Kendria hated thinking about her mother, most of all when drunk, but she thought about what Damon said. She knew virtually nothing about Damon, but there was something in him that called to her. Smiling, she shook her head.

"Nope. Blaire Fell was more concerned about singing, dancing, horseback riding – preserving the Fell name. If you're a psycho murderer, I guess I'm on my own. Here's my question Damon, if I may," Kendria said, tilting her head at him with a teasing smile.

Damon wiggled his eyebrows at her and Kendria giggled again, "Go right ahead."

"Why would you kill me when we can have so much more fun with me alive?"

They pulled up to the gate and Damon punched in the code. He smiled at her when the gates opened to her surprised expression. He remembered the code.

"Good question. I think I like you just as you are Miss Fell," Damon teased, his right hand coming out to tease his fingertips along her jaw, making Kendria shiver, and then twining a hand in her hair.

"Alive and kickin'," Kendria responded, her breathing kicked up, and she turned her face into his hand when it cupped the side of her face.

Damon pulled the car forward with a smirk and parked right behind a silver Porsche – Logan's car. For a fraction of a second, Kendria was dreading the fact that Logan was home, but the thought passed through her brain once Damon got out of the car and zipped around the side to pull open Kendria's door. She thought maybe she'd passed out for a second, that's how fast Damon moved, but she passed it off and allowed him to tug her from her seat and into his arms.

Kendria swayed on her feet, laughing when Damon pulled her up bridal style into his arms, her legs dangling weightlessly over his arms.

"My big, strong man," Kendria giggled into his neck, her lips ghosting over his jaw, up his neck to his ear. She sucked gently on the lobe of his ear and gasped when they came to a sudden halt outside her front door.

"You keep doing that and we won't make it to your bedroom," Damon whispered, his voice husky and full of sin.

"Mm, we can save kinky places to have sex for later. You should put me down, I'm up on the third floor," she whispered, biting the shell of his ear, her tongue flicking out to trace it.

Before she could protest, Kendria felt the world sliding away around her, blurring as they raced up the stairs and when they came to a stop on the third floor landing, Kendria tipped her head back and gasped. Damon's head dipped down to kiss her chin. His lips moved down the column of her throat, and his tongue licked the base.

"Fourth door, end of hallway," Kendria said.

Another gasp fell from her lips and a subtle whoosh of air accompanied their transition from the stairs to her doorway, and with a banging thud, they were in her room, door slammed shut behind them.

Kendria cried out and laughed when Damon threw her on the bed, her body bouncing off the double, pillow top mattress, sinking into the white comforter. The feathers puffed up all around her and Kendria felt Damon settle over her. She spread her legs wide and grabbed the front of his jacket, tugging him in between her thighs, and his hard, muscled body settled into her.

"God, you feel so good," Kendria mumbled, pushing his leather jacket off his shoulders and it disappeared over the edge of the bed.

"And you taste delicious," he said against her neck, the vibrations causing her nipples to tighten and her chest to tingle. His tongue swept the expanse from her neck to the material of her blouse.

Pushing him forcefully, Kendria watched him fall back into her sea of purple pillows and jerkily removed her clothes from the waist up. Her bra fell away and warm, rough hands cupped her breasts. Gasping, Kendria threw her head back and ground her core against his erection – the brush of denim on denim causing exhilarating friction.

BAM! BAM! BAM! Someone pounded violently against her bedroom door and Kendria toppled sideways and Damon's hands on her hips steadied her on top of him.

Looking down into his face, sexy and aroused with his hypnotic, piercing blue eyes, Kendria huffed, slapping her hands against her thighs in frustration.

"I'm sorry. Just one second," Kendria said, climbing off Damon and grabbing up his leather jacket to pull around her.

Her steps swayed as the lingering haze of inebriation played with her balance and Kendria grabbed hold of the knob as more banging persisted. Growling low in her throat, Kendria opened the door a crack.

"What the Hell are you doing?" Kendria stage-whispered.

Logan stood in all his glory, brown hair gelled to a spiky finish and his brown eyes sparkling with amusement, thick brows raised in humor, and dress shirt and pants suitably rumpled from a long day's travel. He looked the same as the last time Kendria had seen him, accept that arrogant swagger and smirk were even more infuriating than she remembered.

"Hey baby sister. Just finished catching up with Becky when I heard my favorite sibling coming up the stairs," Logan said, slamming his palm flat against her towering door, and shoving it open.

Kendria caught the edge and tried to force it shut which only resulted in her backward stumble when he threw it wide and flicked on the overhead light – eclipsing the spill of moonlight through her wide-open curtains. She glanced at Damon who was now sitting up on her bed, back pressed to the headboard, and arms crossed over his chest.

"Oh, do we have company? Kendria, where are your manners? Mom would be appalled you didn't introduce us," Logan said, walking into the room with what Kendria had deemed his 'I-own-everything' attitude; he was just like Kendria remembered, only worse, now he resembled their dad to a T.

"Logan, this is Damon. Damon, this is Logan – our resident jackass. Now get out, Logan," Kendria said, clutching the jacket in one hand and pointing to the door with the other.

"So this is who you're banging nowadays. Nice catch sis, what is he a model? Oh an actor – I hear their in Vogue these days," Logan asked her off-handedly and Kendria marched over to him, drew her right fist back and popped him across the jaw.

It had been a while since Kendria had hauled off with any display of anger and hit anyone, but when she followed through on the punch, the satisfying sound of flesh hitting flesh and Logan's pained groan made the throbbing in her fist all the more bearable.

"Get out of my room or I'll call the sheriff to remove you. And don't think Liz Forbes is going to protect you from me," Kendria said, shoving her brother with her good hand toward the door as he rubbed his aching jaw.

"Damn it Kendria, I have to go on air tomorrow!" Logan exclaimed as she shoved him out the door and slammed it shut behind him, twisting the lock before he could recover.

"I guess you'll just have to tell them your baby sister beat you up," Kendria called back to him, and then she turned to Damon who had stayed silent and still from the moment Logan entered.

Damon's eyes were alert and fevered, almost as if he were on the verge of discovering something.

"I'm sorry about that. Now, where were we?" Kendria asked, smirking as Damon's eyes settled on her again and she dropped the jacket from her shoulders, the buttery soft material brushed against her back and legs as it fell to the floor.

Making sure his eyes were on her, Kendria did a slow striptease, moving in flirtatious twirls to the bed as she disrobed. Once completely naked, Kendria balanced on her knees, standing above Damon; legs on either side of his jean clad ones, and sat back on her heels.

"I want to see more of you," Kendria whispered, running her hands down her front, flicking her own nipples with the scrap of her manicured nails, and arching her back, allowing her head to fall back, hair hanging in rippling waves, and bit her bottom lip – her eyes watching Damon.

"Ask and you shall received," he told her and she watched with hooded eyes as he pulled off his shirt – flinging it God knows where – and then he reached for his belt. She leaned forward then, helping him to tug the belt free from its loops, and her hands teased the rim of his jeans as she moved off of him as he rid himself of his clothes. Once she heard his jeans and shoes thud to the floor, Kendria re-exerted her dominance, pinning him to the bed, and kissing open-mouthed down his chest. Her moist, pink tongue circled each of his small, tan nipples and then she bit gently into the right causing him to groan.

Heart hammering in her chest, Kendria settled her wet core over him, his hard cock sliding between her slick lips and pressing into her clitoris, the bundle of nerves jumping and shocking every nerve ending up her spine, and the wetness increased. Her body began to heat, goose-bumps raised along her arms and the air in the room seemed to drop to a chill as Damon's hands danced up her sides, massaging her hips.

"Kiss me," Kendria demanded, her lips lowering to hover over his mouth.

Damon leaned up, thrusting his hips so that his cock slid back and forth, jolting against her clit again and again, and took her mouth. Kendria felt possessed by him, his mouth owning her, his tongue moving over hers, exploring the cavern of her mouth, and those hands resting on her hips electrified her, making all of her stomach muscles clench, and the feel of him long and hard between her legs, groin to groin, made her moan into his mouth. They fit perfectly and Kendria hissed in pleasurable pain when he drew back his hips, lined up with her vagina and thrust home.

"Damon," Kendria screamed, mouth breaking free from his.

"That's it, scream," Damon whispered.

Damon's hot mouth descended along her throat and mapped her collarbone, tracing the contours of her neck and shoulder and then making a moist descent to her right breast. His tongue laved over her areola and bit her nipple. A fiery thrill shot from her right breast to her left and down to her core – his prick moving in slow, paced rhythm, driving her desire higher.

"Harder, faster. Definitely faster," Kendria whispered, her hands tangling in his hair, pulling his mouth from her aching breasts to her gasping mouth.

Thrusting hot, slick, fast – Damon sped up. Kendria thrust harder and harder, their flesh slapping slick and warm, adding to the din of their passion.

In a dizzying shift, Kendria was beneath him; Damon smirked down at her and she turned her head to the side and caught their reflection in the windowpane, moonlight shadowing their silhouette. His thrusts became more frenzied; the power of his frame leaning into her, and the sinewy cords of muscle in his biceps surrounded either side of her when he laid his arms around her torso. Her arms slid up under his armpits and wrapped around his back, her nails digging into the groove of his shoulder blades.

Kendria wrapped her long, curvy legs around his hips, and breathed in his scent, wildness, leather, cologne, and something smoky – sandalwood. He hit her sensitive place and she shouted out something indiscernible as he hit it over and over until she came, crying out his name as her orgasm crested. She peaked and her orgasm came in waves of wetness; once, twice, a third time until she gasped and found herself turned onto her stomach, thighs spread, legs draw up with Damon's hands under the bend of her knees. He thrust inside her again and sheathed himself so fully it almost hurt, her muscles clenching him, and the head of his hardness fill her completely until he couldn't go deep and she lost her breath.

"God, you're so fucking tight," he groaned along her spine, his kisses trailing up her back until she shivered inside.

Hands shoved under her pillows, Kendria clenched at her white, satin sheets, her fists pulling at the material as she bit into the pillow crushed under her weight.

"Say my name," Damon whispered in her ear, his warm breath causing Kendria to shiver.

"Damon," Kendria whispered and he angled his hips so that her orgasm triggered again.

"Damon," she called louder.

He hit that spot again and a new wave of orgasms rushed her. "Damon," she screamed.

In the next moment, Damon bit her shoulder and the world went blank with pleasure and an incredible stinging pain. She felt him pumping into her and he came inside of her, warmth shooting deep within her. Damon sucked harder and harder and with each pull every muscle spasm-ed in her body, every nerve firing with heated ecstasy, and finally Kendria gave in to exhaustion.

Moaning tiredly, Kendria came awake, rolling over in bed until she hit a warm, hard body. She cracked an eye to see Damon asleep beside her, facing her, and she winced from the sunlight spilling in through the windows. She smiled into her pillow when she chanced another glimpse of Damon, tracing her eyes over Damon, and she grinned bigger.

Sighing, Kendria opened her eyes and sat up slowly. Her whole body felt like a big bruise; a pleasant, achy bruise. At some point Damon must have covered them because her feathery, fluffy, white comforter covered Damon – who lie on his stomach, head turned toward her – from the waist down. His back was an artistry of muscles and smooth, sleek skin. Glancing again at his face to make certain he was still sleeping; Kendria braced herself up on her left hand and traced her right hand over his back. She made small circles with her index and middle finger and scratched lightly at the small of his back.

"Mm, I could think of a worse way to wake up," Damon said and Kendria jumped guiltily. She let out an airy laugh and Kendria bit her lip.

"I'm sorry I passed out on you last night," Kendria said, lying back down facing him as he turned on his side to face her.

"I wore you out, not your fault. I'll have to be more careful until you can build up some stamina and keep up with me," he teased, eyebrows flexing in that sexy, flirty way that hand Kendria blushing.

"Oh, I was drunk last night. I think I'll stand a better chance sober," Kendria whispered, leaning in and kissing him on the lips – opening her mouth against his and tracing the rim of his lips.

Damon's tongue snaked out and thrust into her mouth. Abandoning tracing his lips, Kendria fought with him, looping circles and massaging the roof of his mouth until her body came alive with the spark of his touch.

Knocking. Impatient, prissy knocking. Rebecca, Kendria thought, sighing as she pulled free from Damon. Grabbing up Damon's leather jacket, yet again, Kendria approached the door and glanced back at Damon to see him lying amidst her pillows, hands braced behind his head with his sexy, tousled black hair, and his chest on full display. He was smirking and he looked very satisfied if Kendria did say so herself.

"Good morning," Kendria said, opening the door to see Rebecca standing impatiently, tapping one of her high heeled shoes against the floor.

"Yeah, for you. I got stuck making Logan breakfast and making nice until he took off to chase whatever story he's going for. And as much as I love seeing Logan with a big, black and blue on his jaw, you were out of line," Rebecca said. Tap, tap, tap – if she didn't stop taping, Kendria was going to slam the door in her sister's face.

"Is there a point to this rant?" Kendria whispered, peeking over her shoulder to Damon who winked at her.

"Yeah, get out of bed and stop playing sick. I need to go places today and Logan's going to be home by four. I need you to play watchdog," Rebecca said.

"I'm not playing sick –"

"Well why are you in bed then?" Rebecca said, pushing against the door until Kendria stumbled back, bare feet tripping over one another, until the door was wide open.

"Wow," Rebecca said. Her eyes widened and Kendria jerked from behind the door and shoved her sister back out in the hall as Damon finger-waved mockingly at her.

"Yeah, wow, as in wow, where did your manners go? Stay out of my room. I'm not babysitting Logan; I have better things to do. If Dad's so worried about him, he can come home and "play watchdog". Now go…do something," Kendria said, shutting the door in Rebecca's outraged face.

Pausing as she faced the door a moment longer, Kendria took a deep breath, put on her sexy smile, and turned to face Damon. She walked to the bed, dropped his jacket at the foot, and then crawled to Damon on all fours.

"You have a very intrusive family," Damon said.

As soon as she was in reach, Damon grabbed both of her arms and hoisted her up into his lap. Running his fingers along her jaw and her shoulder, Damon placed a single kiss on her lips, almost chaste, and Kendria winced when his hand settled on her shoulder.

"I think I bit too hard," Damon said, placing another kiss where his hand was, lifting it to reveal her broken, sore bite to his lips.

"It's okay. I like it rough," Kendria flirted, pushing him back into her pillows, the ones that had stayed on the bed during their wild sex and the fitful sleep that followed.

"Do you now," he said, his voice light and playful, and then he turned the tables, pinning her beneath him, hands above her head, and Kendria giggled as he tickled her.

"Stop, oh, God, stop," Kendria gasped out between infectious, involuntary laughter.

"Say, Damon is the sexiest badass and my personal sex god," Damon said, running one hand down her body to her side and then up to her neck as she squealed.

"Damon is the sexiest badass and my personal sex god," Kendria screamed toward the ceiling.

"Oh, stop, I'm blushing," Damon teased before letting her go.

"Jerk," Kendria said, slamming his bare chest lightly as she smiled.

"Sometimes," he agreed.

"What do you want for breakfast?" Kendria asked, standing and walking to her unpacked bags by the door. She pulled out her favorite racy, red, satin panties, and matching bra.

"Are you on the menu?" Damon said, and Kendria threw him a smile over her shoulder.

"I would be, but it's like…" Kendria glanced at the clock on the end table – it was two in the afternoon. "Like two and I have a car to pick up."

"In that case, I guess I could go for pancakes," Damon said.

"Well, you are in luck. One of my best breakfast foods is pancakes," Kendria informed him, remembering every Saturday in her old apartment. It was tradition that every Saturday Rachel, Denny, Cora, and Kendria sat down to a family breakfast (because in all their schedules Saturday was the one day a week that school, work, and prior commitments didn't exist before noon).

"I got me a woman who can drink, party, and cook? Lucky me," Damon said, standing.

As Kendria pulled on her underwear and a knee-length, royal blue, swing dress she snuck glances at Damon. He looked incredibly delectable in his jeans and his leather jacket – he abstained his shirt, his abs on broad display – and Kendria buckled the straps on her high heeled, black pumps with the strap around the ankle, smiling at him while Damon examined her room.

"You were cute as a child. I like you better with the black hair. It's sexy," Damon said when Kendria ducked into her bathroom.

Brushing her teeth, Kendria used her make-up removing wipes with one hand to clean away the raccoon smudges under her eyes. She rinsed her mouth with the travel sized Listerine and ran her hairbrush through her long, tangled hair before rejoining Damon in her room. He stood out like a sore thumb in her perfectly manicured, purple and white room.

"Thank you. I like it too. Come on, the kitchen's this way," Kendria said, waving her hand toward the door.

Damon swaggered toward her and her eyes dropped to the V that disappeared into his jeans, noticing the happy trail of soft, dark hair. A flash memory of the feel of him between her thighs made Kendria blush.

"Lead the way," Damon said, putting an arm around Kendria's waist and she allowed herself to be pulled into his side.

It took ten minutes for Kendria to whip up the batter from scratch and poured them orange juice from the fridge. The kitchen was alive with the sounds of clinking glasses, shuffling bowls, and the wire whisk which Kendria was fairly certain never saw the light of day. He took a seat at the kitchen table and Kendria hummed while she made breakfast, grinning from ear to ear with her back turned to him. She heard the house phone ring and Rebecca entered the kitchen with the white, cordless phone from the foyer.

"Belle Jacobs. No, I think my sister is unavailable at the moment. She's cooking breakfast for her…guy friend. Fuck buddy, whatever," Rebecca said, calling the last more loudly as she pulled open the refrigerator door.

"Give me the phone," Kendria said after flipping two pancakes onto one of the blue and white, flower patterned, china plates in the cabinet above the stainless coffeepot by the sink.

"Fine, whatever," Rebecca said, dropping the phone on the counter before taking the plate that Kendria had just filled.

"Those are for Damon!" Kendria said, snatching up the phone.

"Now they're for me," Rebecca said, exiting the room stage right.

"Damon? As in the Salvatore hottie from last night?" Belle asked as soon as Kendria put the phone to her ear.

Pouring more pancake batter on the pan, Kendria shot Damon an apologetic glance. He shook his head in understanding.

"Yes," Kendria whispered softly. "But he's sitting right here so, ix-nay on the details till later, 'kay?"

"Oh you better believe there will be a later, Missy. Now I'm calling because I picked up your car from Chet's and paid up the bill. You can give me a check or something later. I need to run some errands, cool?"

Sighing, Kendria nodded to herself. "Alright, but I want to go apartment hunting. Do me a favor and have it back by four?"

"Love you mucho, later."

"Me too, bye."

Flipping the golden pancakes onto two plates, Kendria turned off the stove and grabbed the forks and maple syrup. She smiled as she brought Damon his plate and dropped into the seat next to him.

"Smells yummy," Damon said. His blue eyes were so light they looked like ice and Kendria loved looking into them. After his first bite he groaned exaggeratedly and wink. "Perfect."

"Yeah, I kinda rock. So what are you doing today?"

"I have to help my Uncle Zack today. You? I think I overheard something about apartment hunting?" Damon asked, eyebrows raised.

"I don't exactly want to make my stay here any longer than necessary. I'm scheduled to do a walk through on Oakhurst Drive facing town square," Kendria said. She loved pancakes and she loved having them with Damon. Her whole body felt relaxed.

A phone chirped and Damon pulled his cell out of an inner pocket from his jacket. He flipped it open and blurred a new text and then snapped it shut.

"I gotta go. Thank you for the breakfast and the –"

Kendria pressed her lips to his and felt his lips curl in a grin and then she pulled back, her lips a little sticky with syrup, "Finish that and you won't be getting any anything for a while. Come on, I'll show you out."

"Feisty, I love it," Damon said and Kendria pulled him, hand in his, to the front door. They shared another fiery, slow kiss and broke off once Rebecca cleared her throat from the stairs behind them.

"I'm ignoring her until you leave. Kiss me," Kendria whispered, lifting her lips from another one. He obliged and then Kendria pushed him out the door lightly. "Call me."

"You can count on it," he said, walking backwards and then turning to trot down the steps and hop in his black car with its sleek lines and purring engine – it was sexy just like its owner.

"He is so hot. New in town too. How'd you snag 'im?" Rebecca asked from the stairs, arms folded defiantly over her chest.

Turning to Kendria she read the jealousy in her from tip to toe and grinned.

"I've got things to do. I'll be in Dad's office," Kendria said, sauntering toward the back of the house. Rebecca made some noise of frustration and then the door to the office swung shut behind her and she pressed her back against it. Today was the best day ever.

_**A/N:**_ Well there is chapter four folks! Loving all the reviews, they inspire me and make me blush ;) A special thank you to Manon who made me feel more than special - I can't believe this is the first VD fanfic you have ever reviewed! Reading that made me feel so grateful and extra special. Thank you everyone who reviewed. I can't wait to hear back from you, EK!


	5. Chapter 5

**Forever Young**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own the Vampire Diaries.

**Author: **Egyptian Kiss

**Pairing: **Damon/OC

**Rating: **MA

**Summary: **Kendria Fell was Mystic Falls queen before she left for a 4 year education at NYU. Now that she's back with an architectural degree in hand, she plans to build her life anew. Werewolves, vampires, and jealous sisters aside;Kendria is about to discover a centuries old family secret.

**Chapter Five**

Kendria had been perusing her father's library for over an hour. She had already gone through her final walk through on Oakhurst and decided on a modern-deco apartment facing the town square. Belle had been more than chatty through lunch where Kendria had glowingly recounted her amazing date with Damon. Rebecca and Logan had been AWOL when Kendria had arrived back at the house. Her childhood came rolling back, the imposing atmosphere of the art bedecked parlors and hallways of the Fell manor made her uneasy in a way Kendria had long forgotten.

Sighing, Kendria shoved back a copy of Machiavelli in the immaculately kept collection Henry Fell had cultivated over the years. As she pushed it in, the edge caught against the book on the opposite side of the third row in the stacks and she heard the unmistakable plunk of a heavy book hitting the ground on the other side of the ceiling-high shelves.

Hurrying around the row, Kendria spotted a thick, brown, leather volume, cracking and peeling up around the edges, laying flat on the burnished wood floor. The air felt thick as Kendria bent to a crouch and scooped up the fallen book and tingling, chill and sudden, erupted along her fingers, up her arm, and down her spine. Flipping over the book to see the plain, nameless cover, Kendria cracked open the first page and the spine creaked in protest. Kendria had spent many years growing up hiding in the stacks of her father's library; from her mother, from her sisters, and even on occasion, from Logan. She had lost herself over and over again in the tomes that lined the walls and the shelves, and not once, had Kendria seen this book.

The first page was blank, the second contained a faded watermark and a delicately scripted signature – Ophelia Fell – and the third was the start of the book.

_Dear Diary, _

_ It happened again today. My world changed for the third time. I beg prying eyes to look no further than these words, I caution you to turn away now and not look upon my shame. The first time I knew there was something wrong with me was when I was but a girl, ten and one years, and I saw it happen. I saw Georgie Sanders fall in the lake – before it happened. Mamma told me I was being foolish because Georgie came over later that day, after I had felt him die, and practiced my lessons with me. But Mamma was wrong, Georgie did die; he died the next day and Papa and Mr. Sanders found him on the bank of the lake by the new Wickery Bridge outside of town. _

_ But I didn't see anything again until I was ten and six. I had thought Georgie an aberration, a bad dream, but like Mamma had been, I was wrong. The second time my whole life changed I was at Marielle Forbes coming out party. It was the grandest party of the season, and I remember thinking upon my own coming out, three weeks later, when it happened. I was dancing with Gregory Lockwood, a Harvard man returned to town for Christmas break, when he touched me inappropriately, squeezing me from behind as we spun around the ballroom. I do not know how I did it, but I felt appalled, angry, and then he was on the ground, screaming and seizing like a rabid hunting dog. Papa and Sheriff Rider took him to be treated and Mamma took me home. He never fully recovered from the seizures and had lost the use of his hands. _

_I told Mamma what happened and she made me swear never to talk about it to anyone, ever. I swore, but after tonight I cannot hold my tongue. I must write this, I must confess my sins. _

_Tonight my whole world changed, again, and I do not know if I will ever be the proper lady I pretend to be. I am twenty and three and I have done something horrible. I killed a man. I do not know of what magic, what sorcery has possessed me, but I killed Harold Armistice, Papa's visiting investor. He came to town three nights ago and he promised Papa to help him save the family businesses. Papa has always wanted a son, but after Mamma had me, Doctor Wilkins said she could not conceive again. Maybe if I was a son, maybe I could save the bank and the grocery store, maybe I would not have killed a man – but I have. _

_Mr. Armistice asked for my hand this evening, while Papa drew up the papers for the small loan they had come to agree upon, and Mamma had instructed the cook to make something rare and expensive in celebration. I wore my best jade green gown and the diamond earrings Papa bought me for my coming out. I knew I had not liked something about Mr. Armistice from the moment he came to our home and when he asked Papa for my hand, I knew why. He was a good looking man, respectable and rich, but I refuse to marry for anything save love. But Papa he would not listen to me, and Mamma was so excited, I could not get out of it. _

_After dinner, my fiancé, took me for a turn around the grounds, and cornered me in the gardens. He grew forceful and called me a tease, and said that I would be lucky if he let Papa keep his businesses and threatened that if I did not do as he said and fulfill him as a wife should he would take me away from Mystic Falls and Mamma and Papa. He kissed me, my very first and started pulling at my corset strings. Diary, I cried and I screamed and then, when his hand was up my skirts, I kicked at him. He swore and fought me and when he bit my lip something happened. He went flying off me and when he landed, his neck cracked against the stone benches in the garden that Mamma had brought with us from England. I know it was me. I killed him. _

_Pippa, my maid, found me and then she saw Mr. Armistice and started screaming. The whole house woke up and Mamma and Papa had to call for the sheriff and for the doctor, but I knew it was too late. He was so still. So cold to the touch. I'll never forget the vacant look in his dark brown eyes. They all asked me what happened and I lied. For the first time in my life, I willfully lied. I told them he and I had been playing a game of chase and that he tripped over the bench and hit the one next to it. Everyone thinks it was just some horrible, awful accident, but I know. _

_Diary, tonight I killed a man, and now I know it's true. I'm something unnatural. I just do not know of what kind. – Ophelia. _

Kendria's eyes widened and she blew out a breath. The faded ink and the beautiful script reminded her of her own hand writing and Kendria wiped at her face, only just realizing she was crying. This woman was her ancestor. The whole thing sounded like some sort of superstitious nonsense. None of it made sense to Kendria, how could she kill someone without touching them? How could she see the future? Or paralyze someone's hands and cause seizures?

Giving into temptation, Kendria turned the page and kept reading. With each entry Ophelia Fell's story became more and more convoluted. Her mother, later named Honoria, sounded very much like Kendria's mother Blair, and the comparisons were chilling. As she reached the middle of the book, Ophelia finally named her own personal brand of supernatural.

…_I am a gypsy. Mamma finally confessed to me what I am. More the like, she accused me of using my powers selfishly, against the visitors. They have come to find me. Lord Niklaus and Lord Elijah, the new visitors in town, had arrived last week and since then have joined us each night for entertainment. I think them both very handsome. Lord Niklaus is by far the most charming man I have ever encountered. His face is sweet as an angel and his hair is like a golden halo – as if God had marked him special. Lord Elijah is much darker, quieter, full of masculine amusement and gentle eyes. He reminds me of Papa a little. _

_Many of the town founders have been disappearing and turning up dead. Lords Niklaus and Elijah have said they came to us because The Southern Herald had circulated their way and they were curious about the sudden rash of deaths. The war spilled into our town recently and claimed many lives in the church named for our family. I was worried for Papa and Mamma, so when Lord Niklaus asked me about the strange deaths and animal attacks of late, I told him that which I knew. Some of my friends were killed in the crossfire of the war, even the Salvatore brothers. He seemed interested in Katherine Pierce, the beautiful orphan living with the Salvatores, but she too had perished. _

_Last night we had a small celebration for Papa's birthday and Lord Niklaus escorted me for the evening. Mamma bought me a new pink dress with pearl trim and Pippa did my hair in that curly way I like, and everything was perfect. It was while I was outside with Lord Niklaus, admiring the night blooming jasmine that he changed. His face changed and his teeth grew sharp and he bit me. I used them again, my gifts, and I felled him. He collapsed, but unlike Mr. Armistice, Lord Niklaus rose again. I kept attacking him, over and over again until he was exhausted and looked normal again and Mamma found us. _

_I have never seen Mamma look so mad or so scared in all my life. She dragged me by my hair up to my room and then she did the most peculiar thing – she stole my voice. I was trying to tell her what happened, but Mamma never listens to me, not when she is angry. I was talking one minute and the next I couldn't say anything, I couldn't even scream. I was so scared, Diary, I was petrified. Mamma called me a harlot and a power-drunk gypsy. She told me that she had hoped I would be normal, that not telling me would protect me, make me normal – not like her, not like her family. Then she cast a spell on me, she said it would stop me from making her mistakes, and she left me. _

_I could not speak, I could not scream, I could not even whimper. So when he came for me, I had nothing to protect myself. He said that I was dark, like him, and that my value had been renewed – that he had been searching for me, for a young descendant of my lineage who could lift his curse. He was furious when I would not speak and when I finally wrote it down what had happened he struck me. I had thought Mamma was terrifying, but Lord Niklaus is a monster, horrible and awe-inspiring as I have never known. Then it was as if he calmed, found the answer, and he stroked my face lovingly. His face became strange again and then he made me drink from his wrist until my jaw no longer ached and then he held me down and took from me what only a husband should. _

Kendria stopped reading, covering her eyes and the page, shaking violently at the thought of what Ophelia had suffered. How awful would it be to not be able to scream for help? And it was all her mother's fault. Kendria shook her head, her blue black hair obscuring her eyes, and then she pushed them impatiently out of the way before reading on. It was twisted, but like a car accident, Kendria couldn't stop watching, reading.

_The next morning, Mamma came to me after Pippa had come to change me and the bed dressings. She explained that she had only been very angry with me because she needed time to calm down. She took the spell off my voice and I knew deep down that I could say something. That I could scream and shout and cry to her; that maybe I should have said what I now knew about Lord Niklaus and that he had taken my maidenhead. But I could not speak for a whole new reason, Diary. Mamma kissed me and told me she would see me at breakfast, and left me. I do not know how I managed it, but I sat through breakfast, lunch, and dinner – mutely. I played ill and took to my bed. _

As each page turned, Ophelia's life became darker and darker. Vampires existed and Lord Niklaus and Elijah were two of the original vampires ever created. Her father married her off to a third cousin, Bradley, and shortly after he and his wife Honoria were found dead by a the town's new sheriff. Kendria's heart went out to Ophelia when she miscarried two times and then went to see a witch, a Bennett, who helped her conceive a third time, this final time giving birth to a son, Henry. Each year on the anniversary of her rape, Niklaus appeared to her and she did not fight him, did not speak, and after twenty long years she had developed a type of love for him and his brand of abuse. Kendria shook her head, reading each emotional line, until the book came to the last page. Ophelia had come down with Diphtheria and Klaus came to her one last time. He made an offer Ophelia couldn't refuse, Kendria thought with dark sarcasm.

_Niklaus promises that it will not hurt and that I will live forever. He promised this pain will end and that I will be able to always be at his side. Bradley does not love me anymore now that I have grown sickly. I can barely hold this pen. I can barely whisper to my sweet Henry. He has grown so strapping and gentle in his life. All I must do is pledge to help Niklaus find the one, the descendent that will break his curse. But to do so I must break ours, the one Mamma cast so long ago. I must allow her the choice to say the words. To free her soul and let her magic soar. I begged you, dear one, to turn back at the start of my story, but if you read these ponderings you are truly one of mine, a Fell through and through. Say these words, free your soul, break our curse and revel in the future untold. I will wait for you and so shall he: I say these words; I make the deal; My magic now do reveal; Lock this spell and break this seal. _

_ You are free…and finally…so am I. –Ophelia. _

Kendria considered herself a sensible person. A dreamer, a romantic, but her feet were firmly planted on the ground regardless. As she read the words again, the little incantation, she chuckled.

"Oh why the hell not. It's obvious she was nuts. Maybe she just wrote this book for fun. What could it really hurt?" Kendria whispered to herself, rolling her eyes at herself when she hesitated. "I say these words. I make the deal. My magic now do reveal. Lock this spell and break this seal."

Nothing happened. Kendria looked around, lips twitching in self-deprecation, and when her phone rang and she jumped, she laughed. "I've seen too many movies."

Digging out her phone from the pocket on the front of her swing dress, Kendria saw the name flashing on the screen and smiled.

"Hello?"

"Hi. So I hear you had a hot date last night?" Jenna greeted.

Laughing, Kendria nodded, "I did. God, tell Belle anything and it's like posting it on Facebook."

"How long have you been back? Elena said that she saw you at the Grill the other night. I thought you were going to call me when you got in?" Jenna said and Kendria could hear the excitement in her voice.

Standing up and stretching, Kendria yawned. She had been sitting on the hardwood floor in her father's library for over four hours. She replaced the diary back on the shelf and started walking toward the large, ivory, double doors that led out into the main hallway and down to the kitchen.

"Yeah, I know. I'm sorry. I've only been in town a couple days. I'm still getting situated. I found a really great apartment facing town square on Oakhurst. Kitschy and modern-deco; we'll do a girls night and you can come see it once I move in," Kendria explained, pushing into the kitchen and flicking on the bright lights as the sun started to fade into the twilight outside the kitchen windows.

Logan and some polished brunette sat at the dinner table flirting over what looked like two coffees. Rolling her eyes and heading for the fridge, Kendria loudly cleared her throat to announce her presence.

"That sounds great. I love Elena and Jeremy, but I'm too young to be a mom yet, you know? I mean, God bless Victoria, but I'm still in college. I'm still young. I need to have fun too."

"Then we are definitely getting together. And it'll probably do Victoria good too because even moms need a break every once in a while. How are things with Elena and Jeremy? You still think he's toking the refer?" Kendria asked, grabbing chopped meat and garlic from one of the lower shelves and tossing them on the counter. She grabbed a box of pasta and a jar of tomato sauce and started boiling water.

Turning around, Kendria watched Logan stand up and slowly, deliberately, walk over to her. A small tickle of amusement and satisfaction overcame her when Kendria saw the shiner he was toting.

Glancing over his shoulder as he leaned in, Kendria noted the curious expression on the woman's pretty face as she sipped politely from the Fell's fine china and pretended to look disinterested in their conversation. Covering the mouth piece of the phone as Jenna went on about Jeremy's current drug habit and teenage rebellion, Kendria raised an eyebrow.

"What?" she whispered.

"Really? I'm on a date here," Logan said in the same hushed tones, his brows furrowed.

"You too cheap to take her out? I'm hunger and this is my house too – temporarily."

"Go out to eat," Logan demanded, glaring.

Another flickered glance at the pretty newswoman confirmed that she was trying to listen in. Uncovering the mouth piece, Kendria gave Logan a fake smile.

"Hey Jenna, want to go catch some dinner?" Kendria said, interrupting her friend mid-rant.

Logan paled at Jenna's name and then back up to the dinner table as Kendria flicked off the stove and walked out of the room. If he was driving her out of the house, he could clean up the mess.

"Yeah, sure. I think Elena will appreciate the space anyway. She's having a little get together with the girls and the boy she's been seeing, Stefan, is coming over to make dinner. Hey, you never told me, who's the guy Belle mentioned? Don't make me pull it out of you," Jenna threatened teasingly.

"Stefan's older brother, Damon." Kendria said, another smile lighting her face as she thought about him. Her room was still a mess when she entered and grabbed her favorite blue suede jacket from one her luggage bags.

"No way! He's hot stuff. God, this is so typical. My dating life has been as dried up as the Sahara and you're in town for less than two seconds and already you have someone. Maybe I am getting boring," Jenna said.

"Who said you're boring? And are you seriously telling me there is no game in this town? None?"

"I told you, I tried telling Jeremy about my smoking days – when I was one with the bong – and he said 'I get it Aunt Jenna, you used to be cool'! Used to be! As for guys…well there is one. But it's weird. He's Elena's new history teacher at school and we've only run into each other a couple times. I don't know if I'd be crossing some parental line by going for him," Jenna said.

Kendria sat down on her rumpled bed, glancing around at the ten or so decorative pillows that had spilled onto the floor and laid back against the feather comforter. "You are not boring and you are still cool. I bet you can still shoot tequila like a pro. What's this history buff's name? If he's available you go for it. You might be their guardian, but you aren't dead, Jenna. You are allowed to date."

"Alaric, and I know I can date, but it seems like I'd be tempting fate dating Elena's teacher. She's closed off to me enough as it is. I feel like she's freezing me out and keeping secrets. I know she's a good kid and it's not drugs like her brother, but I know there's something she's not telling me. I mean, we were her age not that long ago. Oh shit, I smell smoke. Look Kendria, I got to go play bad cop. I'll meet you at Sunset Gardens in a twenty, 'kay?" Jenna said, sounding frustrated.

"You got it. Love ya, Jen," Kendria said.

"Me too." Click.

Closing her eyes, Kendria felt a jolt and her stomach rolled. Her mind filled with the image of Jenna's car running a red light and the jarring sound of a police siren. She watched as Jenna pulled to the shoulder of Third Avenue and some deputy no-name walked up to the car and wrote her a ticket. Jenna reached over for her registration and the cop bent down to say something indiscernible, his portable coffee cup tipping precariously on the window's opening, and then the whole thing upended as Jenna turned back to face the window, registration in hand, and spilled down the front of her ivory sweater.

Snapping upright, Kendria gripped the edge of the bed in alarm. Her fingernails pinched as she dug them into the mattress rim, and her breath came out in pants. "Shit. I need to stop daydreaming."

By the time Kendria pulled it together and jetted out the front door the daze from her little daydream had faded and she peeled out of the driveway with relish. She passed Logan and his date on the way out and was finally introduced to her, Andie Starr, who politely shook her hand and complimented Kendria's dress. The whole exchange was on the relatively awkward side and Kendria was thankful for the familiar smell of Chinese food as she entered Sunset Gardens. Chinese had been a popular take out order for Kendria and Rachel when they pulled their all-nighters studying for economics.

A tall, thin, waifish Chinese woman seated Kendria by a lucky bamboo plant, woven intricately, and located closely to the kitchen doors. Every time someone came through the kitchen doors, Kendria got a waft of the Kung Po Chicken.

"Can I get your order?" asked the woman when she returned with Kendria's Coke.

"I'm waiting on a friend, thanks," Kendria said, playing with the soy sauce packets in the black plastic container next to the complimentary chopsticks.

Twenty minutes later, Jenna came through the entrance, looking frazzled wearing an ivory sweater which was generously doused with a coffee stain. Kendria paled as her friend spotted her and hurried toward her. Jenna's strawberry blond hair was longer than Kendria remembered and her make-up had lost the vampy look it used to maintain throughout Jenna's off-Goth high school style.

"Hi! You look great. God, it's been forever. I'm sorry I'm late. I got pulled over by some Deputy Fife with a quick draw on the ticket pad. I love Mystic Falls, but it is such a speed trap," Jenna vented, half bending to hug Kendria and then taking the seat across from her.

With a growing sense of foreboding, Kendria nodded. "Hi, don't worry about it. Um…whose coffee?" Please say yours, please say yours, Kendria thought.

Jenna's startled green eyes looked up from the menu and then back at the stain with an unhappy frown. "His. Jerk was practically on top of me trying to get my number. Can you believe that? He's giving me a ticket and trying to cop a feel all at the same time."

Shaking her head robotically, Kendria murmured something in agreement and floated through the rest of the meal with her head in the clouds. When the waiter brought out their bill and the fortune cookies, Kendria felt the bizarre jolt of premonition and jerked to her feet to grab hold of the kitchen door to stop it from swinging shut. Praying she was wrong but knowing she wouldn't be, Kendria peeked on the other side and jerked out of the way as another server came stumbling through the door holding his chest and then collapsed on the floor.

"Someone call 911! He's having a heart attack," Kendria shouted, dropping to the floor beside the fallen Chinese man, much to Jenna's startled surprise.

And just like that, Kendria's world changed.

_**A/N:**_ Wow, thank you for all the wonderful reviews. This chapter was more informative than action packed. I know it's been a long while since I've updated, but I've had a lot going on and a little writer's block to contend with. I really enjoyed reading your comments and I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I hope to have the next one out in a week or two. Also, on my Roswellfanatics author page a banner is now up for this story. If you are interested in taking a peek, you can find the link to it on my profile page. I look forward to your reviews, EK!


	6. Chapter 6

**Forever Young**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own the Vampire Diaries.

**Author: **Egyptian Kiss

**Pairing: **Damon/OC

**Rating: **MA

**Summary: **Kendria Fell was Mystic Falls queen before she left for a 4 year education at NYU. Now that she's back with an architectural degree in hand, she plans to build her life anew. Werewolves, vampires, and jealous sisters aside;Kendria is about to discover a centuries old family secret.

**Chapter Six**

Kendria counted eight boxes total when Belle helped her carry in the last box into her new apartment. It had been three days since the incident at the restaurant and since nothing weird or unexplainable had happened in that time, Kendria was determined to block the whole event out. Jenna had been more than freaked when Kendria had administered CPR and according to one EMT who arrived on the scene, had saved that man's life.

"Are we opening the white or the red?" Jenna called from the kitchen.

Sharing a look, Belle and Kendria shrugged and replied together, "The red."

"God, you are so lucky, Kendria. This place is great," Belle said, plopping down on one of the two cream divans in the spacious living room.

Kendria had lucked out. The place was big – two bedrooms, two baths, a living room, a kitchen, a laundry room, and a balcony that hung out over the busy streets facing town square. The living room was all cream colored walls, cream carpeted floors, and a brand new onyx entertainment center. Black and white photos of Paris, Rome, Switzerland, Germany, and other European countries were artistically tiered along the walls, as well as colorful pictures of family and friends. Two 8x10 pictures were blown up and mounted on the wall by the kitchen behind an antique rocker; one of Rachel, Denny, Cora, and Kendria in their New York abode, the other of Belle, Jenna, Victoria, and Kendria at their old high school (they all had a daring electric blue streak in their hair- a last parting shot at Mystic Falls traditionalism before Kendria left for college). Much of Kendria's apartment had that same kitschy, European, black and white, artisan appeal. The single popping shade of color in the living room was a crystal drop chandelier in a vibrant shade of purple.

Belle leaned over the black wooden coffee table that sat on a rug with a modern, square pattern in cream and black with shades of gray depth to light the tea light candles that sat on a candle boat in the middle.

"Here's the wine," Jenna said, coming in from the open, archway that led into the blue and green sea motif kitchen. She was juggling three, long-stem wine goblets Kendria's parents had given to her after one of their many trips to Italy.

"Thanks for bringing it. I like the idea that we're christening the apartment. I wish Victoria could have made it. Her kids have some kind of bug," Kendria said, taking up her seat on the rocker while Jenna collapsed onto the other divan.

"Me too. You know, we live in the same town, go to the same parties, but it's like she's always busy nowadays. I don't even remember the last time she went to the bar for a drink with me," Jenna said. Belle nodded in agreement.

"Me neither. I get she has kids, but come on," Belle said.

Kendria took a deep gulp of the wine, the robust bitterness hitting her in just the right way. "I think it's her husband. I don't like him."

"He seems like a creep," Belle agreed, downing her glass and refilling it with the bottle Jenna had dropped on the table.

"What can you do though? That's why I'm waiting. That and a decided lack boyfriends," Jenna said, tipping back her own glass with a wry smile.

"What about that history teacher?" Kendria asked.

"I'm still on the fence about him. He asked me to chaperone some school dance with him a week from now. I told him I'd see if I'm available," Jenna said, grinning a little, biting her lip in a nervous gesture.

"I'd bang him. He's hot," Belle announced and then giggled when Jenna threw a throw pillow at her.

"I have to meet him if he's Belle approved," Kendria teased and Jenna turned a charming shade of tomato red.

"He's a little scruffy, but I like my man to have a wild side," Belle chimed in again, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively. This time Kendria was the one to send a pillow her way.

"So are you two coming to the Founder's Party tomorrow? The one in honor of the naming of the town?" Jenna asked, smoothly transitioning the focus of the conversation from her love life to the big celebration.

Kendria nodded, but Belle shrugged.

"I'm going. I always do. That and Carol Lockwood called me yesterday and asked me specifically to come. She said she has some, and I quote, "important business matters that we just must discuss" and "what better time than during a town event" to "thoroughly appreciate my request" – end quote. Not that she told me what her "request" is yet, but it sounded ominous. Not to mention my last name kind of ropes me into the whole situation," Kendria said, sighing. She poured herself another glass of wine when her goblet hit a dry bottom.

"Sucks to be you. I have the fortune of being a nobody in this town. I'm not required to go stand with stuff shirts and twirl around on painful heels to please society," Belle said, doing her best impression of a nouveau-riche snob, nose held high and pinky extended from her goblet wielding hand. They all burst into giggles.

"You should come though. What party couldn't use a rebel?" Jenna enticed.

"Too true. And Damon might be there and from the glow surrounding Kendria he might be worth the hob-knobbing," Belle said, licking her lips salaciously.

"I have more pillows," Kendria warned, fighting a smile.

"Oh no, you're going to feather pillow me to death," Belle said in mock gasp.

Jenna started giggling uncontrollably when the doorbell rang and Kendria, laughing too, got up to answer it.

Opening the door, Kendria found a man in a blue and white uniform with "Flora's Flowers" stitched across the front breast pocket. The delivery guy was a fifteen year old kid with a baseball cap on backwards, holding a bouquet of wine red roses, a single calla lily sticking up from the center and a black ribbon tying them together.

"You Kendria Fell?" asked the kid, Ernest – according to his nametag.

"Yes."

He handed her a zebra stripped clipboard and a standard issue pen with Flora's logo on it, "Sign in the box at the bottom and initial at the top by your address, please." He said it in a bored tone, and once she had done so, the flowers were thrust upon her. "Have a nice day, ma'am."

Kendria's eyebrows flew up to her hairline as he disappeared down the nearby flight of stairs and then she shut the door and pulled out the card while walking back into the living room. Since when had she become a ma'am? "Hey Belle? Can you grab me a vase and fill it with water, please? They're under the sink in the kitchen."

"Sure," Belle said, passing Kendria as she went. "Pretty. Who they from? Let me guess, Damon?"

"Shh, I'm reading the card," Kendria announced, reclaiming her seat in the living room, Jenna sitting quietly across from her with curious eyes.

_Kendria, _

_ These flowers are a pale grasping beauty you easily surpass. May the sight of them please you, as the sight of you pleases me. –Your Admirer _

"So what does it say?" Belle asked. She handed Kendria a clear purple vase with ivy vine etching and retook her seat.

Placing the bouquet in the vase, Kendria twirled the card between her fingers. It'd be nice if they were from Damon, but it didn't seem his style. From the little of his style Kendria had seen, Damon tended to be bold, daring, and willing to deliver up front in person. Whoever sent these flowers had seen her, yes, but she had a suspicious feeling forming in the pit of her stomach and a flash of uncertainty filled her. Kendria read the card aloud and then glanced between Jenna and Belle, shrugging.

"Maybe they're from Damon," Jenna offered, her pretty face twisted in a thinking pout, brow creased.

"Or maybe, you lucky duck, you have more than one man vying for your attention," Belle said, leaning in to smell the roses and sighing.

"I don't know and it wasn't signed. They smell nice though," Kendria said and Belle murmured something in agreement.

"Well girls, I got to get going. School gets out soon and I want to make sure that Jeremy's home ASAP. I found a roach in his end table in his bedroom, and not of the insect variety, and a stash in his sock drawer. That kid is too much," Jenna said, getting to her feet and putting her half-empty wine glass on the coffee table.

"How's Elena?" Kendria asked, getting to her feet to exchange goodbye hugs.

Shaking her head, Jenna sighed, "I have no clue. That girl has more secrets than I know what to do with. She's hardly home anymore, she's usually with Stefan. Which, hey, great, she has a boyfriend, maybe that'll help her deal with her parents' deaths, but I don't know. I feel like her life's even more complicated now than it was right after the accident. I wish I could get her to tell me what's going on in her head, and short of breaking her trust and pulling a mom by reading her diary, I'm all out of answers. I'm trying so hard not to pry, but I worry, ya know?"

"Well, why not go be a chaperone at that dance with the hottie teacher – a bonus for you – and get your parental spy on? At least you'll have a reason to be there, and you'll see how she's adjusting. Win, win," Belle suggested, deep-sixing her wine and pouring the rest of the bottle in an even split between hers and Kendria's goblets.

"I don't usually give parental advice," Kendria said slowly, "but if you're that worried, Belle raises a good point. Plus, you could use some fun too. Even if it's a high school dance. We used to rock those."

"Okay. I'll call Alaric tomorrow and give it ago. Thanks guys. I really needed this. Kendria, you need anything, even to borrow a cup of sugar, call, k?" Jenna asked, heading for the door.

"You got it," Kendria said. "Same here. Drive safe and give 'em Hell."

The apartment door shut on Jenna's laughter.

"Guess who has a date tonight?" Belle sing-song-ed, flexing her brows.

"Umm...you?" Kendria asked, pretending to think about it.

"Ding, ding, ding! The cute bartender at The Mystic Pub on 21st is taking me out after his shift in two hours. I met him when I stopped in to see my mom. She got a job. Granted it's as a waitress in a bar, but progress is progress, right?" Belle said, holding her glass up for Kendria to clink in toast.

"Here, here! What are you going to wear?" Kendria asked, taking a congratulatory gulp.

"A slinky, sky blue number I bought at Sunrise Mall two towns out. He's got this good boy thing going for him, clean cut, but with the muscles of a bad boy biker. Yum."

"Oh, get some," Kendria teased, laughing when Belle winked.

"So when are you going to get some? Damon called yet?" Belle asked.

He had actually, Kendria thought. He had called her and asked her to dinner next week. Apparently something had come up and he was going to be out of town soon so he'd called to make future plans. Kendria had the girly giggles and butterflies since they had talked and he texted her just this morning with a sexy little comment about what she was wearing – and what he wasn't.

"Yeah. We have a date soon. God Belle, I really like him," Kendria said.

"I can tell. Hey I have to jet too. Date and all. But I'll call you with the details later tonight…or maybe tomorrow. We'll see how lucky Boy Wonder gets," Belle said, grinning.

"Okay," Kendria said, giving her a hug goodbye and then cleaning up the mess. She didn't feel the urge to unpack anymore and she settled for a nice bath.

With an exhausted sigh Kendria fell back onto her new bed, hair wetting the fluffy cerulean blue comforter. It had been a hassle getting the delivery guys up the four flights of stairs, into the apartment and passed her oddly narrow bedroom door. When they finally set up the queen size four poster, Kendria was ready to collapse on the double down mattress and have herself a long sleep – and then the Belle pulled up with the moving truck, which had led to a day of box lifting and wine toasting.

As she gazed up at the ceiling, Kendria smiled. The last owner, who had already vacated the premises to the landlord prior to Kendria's walk through, had painted the ceiling in a broad spiral pattern, the strokes of the artists brush varying in shades of sky blue and gun metal silver. It was eye catching, along with the large window seat that hung out over the sidewalk facing town square next to the balcony (the doors of which were located in the living room). This whole place was a steal for the fixed monthly rent.

Rolling over, the towel unknotted and Kendria stretched her whole body, her spine cracking one vertebra at a time until her back was fully arched. She ran a hand up her body and tweaked both her nipples as the wide a/c vent above her pumped out cool air. It felt wonderful. Kendria thought of Damon and a wicked smile spread across her lips.

Just as her other hand migrated below her hips and between her thighs, Kendria heard her cell phone vibrate from her vintage Parisian, wrought iron end table. Sighing, she reached over and snatched it up.

"Hello?" she said, her voice full of sexual frustration.

"Oh am I interrupting?" Damon asked, his voice filled with amusement.

"Actually, you were," Kendria said and with a sexy smirk, she let her free hand travel back down between her thighs, brushing up and down her slick slit and brushed teasingly against her clit, it sent little jolts of pleasure through her body.

"Do tell," he murmured back, tone turning husky.

"I'm lying naked on my bed right now in my new apartment," Kendria whispered back, her breathing picking up as she focused her fingers on her clit, rubbing in tighter and tighter circles making it stand out wantonly, begging for attention.

"Are you touching yourself?" he asked darkly.

"Hmmm…yes. Oh," Kendria hummed and gasped and bit her lip.

"Tell me where. Describe it to me," he demanded and the sound of his voice made the whole situation more heightened, more erotic.

"I'm so wet right now. My clit is so sensitive, I'm rubbing it so fast…ah…ow," Kendria broke off in a gasp so harsh it rasped over the phone line. She moved her fingers away from her clit to stop her orgasm before she came too soon, and plunged two stiff fingers into her throbbing core. Her walls clenched violent and spasmodically around her diving fingers and she pulled them out and thrust them back in, pressing the heel of her palm into her clitoris, starting the slow burning build up to a powerful, delayed orgasm. "I'm pumping two fingers in and out…oh Damon."

"Shit!" he swore from the other end. "Keep going baby. Pretend they're my fingers filling you, pumping you."

"Damon," Kendria whimpered and she thrust harder and harder, her palm circling and crushing her clit harder and higher into frenzy. "I'm gonna come."

"Come baby, come now," Damon rasped and Kendria flew over the edge.

Her whole body erupted in tremors, her muscles seizing up and flexing, her nerve endings filled with frenetic joy. Her walls fluttered and clenched hotly around her fingers, a gush of her juices running out over her fingers and palm, wetting her thighs, and causing her hand to slip along her labia. It was so much pleasure at once. Kendria breathed harshly into the phone, her gasps and moans of fulfillment driving Damon wild on the other end.

"That was so hot," Kendria whispered, once she had regained her ability to speak.

"I'm on my way to a dinner party and now I'm going to sit through the whole night with a hard on," Damon told her. He sounded aroused and amused and it made her muscles clench.

"I wish you were here," Kendria said and then she wished she hadn't. She wasn't the clingy type and she had only been with Damon once. But it was true; she wished that he was with her in her bed, rolling around naked and ready to go.

"If you're still up when I'm done, maybe I'll make a little detour on the way home," he said, voice promise laden.

Biting her bottom lip fiercely, Kendria glanced at the red numbers on her alarm clock, it was already nine. "Call me."

"Wouldn't miss it," he replied. "I got to go."

"Bye." And he hung up.

Blowing out a sigh, Kendria cleaned everything up and threw on her sexiest, racy underwear – the matching black set of satin and lace making her feel undeniably beautiful. She went into the kitchen and pulled open the chrome refrigerator door and grabbed another bottle of the robust red. She filled a fresh wine goblet to the rim and went back into her living room. She spotted the roses again and wondered if she should hide them in case Damon came by. She was torn between moving them and leaving them. That sat proudly on display on the coffee table, dead center, and the calla lily made them a focal point.

Putting her glass down, Kendria went to reach for the vase but as she swung around to put them in the kitchen she saw her glass wobbling from side to side, ready to fall on her clean cream carpeting.

"No!" Kendria shouted as the goblet up-ended and in slow motion the glass went into a frozen state. Kendria watched with wide eyes as the wine hung midair in an outward splash, the goblet at a downward forty-five degree angle, and then slowly as she watched it and willed it foolishly not to fall, the goblet started to right itself back up toward the table, the outward splash of wine sucking inward in a slow, visible process until the whole goblet, filled to the brim, sat untouched and unmoving on the coffee table's surface. "Oh. My. God."

Dropping the vase back on the table, Kendria went over to examine the goblet. It was still, not even the surface of the wine rippling or moving. Kendria waved her hand under the table, at the side, over the goblet – but none of it was disturbed. She patted down the rug where it would have fall, at the wall it would have splashed on, but there was nothing. It was like it had never happened.

"Maybe I'm going crazy. Or maybe I just daydreamed the whole thing," Kendria whispered. But a gnawing at the back of her mind made her remember Ophelia Fell's diary. She had let herself believe that what was happening to her was not real too. 'And you should too. It was all superstitious nonsense. Powers and gypsies and vampires' Kendria thought. But she had seen it with her own two eyes. How could she deny that? "This is so unreal."

A chill was creeping up her spine and Kendria retrieved a silk robe from her bedroom and tugged it on, cinching it at the waist. Her eyes kept wandering to the untouched wine goblet. "This is ridiculous," she whispered to herself. With a determined tilt of her chin, Kendria stepped up to the coffee table and swept a hand at the goblet, sending it flying once more. "Stop," she whispered, afraid of what might happen, and before her eyes the goblet froze. In reverse, the wine refilled the goblet and it righted itself once more.

Grabbing up the wine, Kendria drank it down in fortifying gulps before setting the empty cup on the table. She took up the divan closest to the table and the goblet and settled in. Eyes connecting with the goblet, Kendria forced her body to relax. "Move," she whispered. The air was silent and then it wasn't. The sound of the goblet sliding across the surface made Kendria jump, practically leaping away from the table, the goblet and the divan into the hallway by the door.

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK! Kendria jumped and her loud shriek rang off the walls. Placing a calming hand to her chest, Kendria took a deep breath and rushed to her apartment door where the insistent pounding was growing louder. "Hold on!"

Undoing the locks and tossing the door chain free, Kendria pulled open the door. Damon stood leaning in the doorframe, slumping against the wall and panting.

"Are you okay? What's going on?" Kendria asked, assessing him from head to toe. He wore tight black jeans that were torn and covered in grass and dirt stains. His shirt buttons were all missing and his exposed chest was bruised and bleeding. He looked like he'd gone ten rounds with a mountain lion.

"Invite me in," he said, voice rough. "Quickly."

"What?" Kendria asked and she heard the rushed sound of footsteps and the clattering of the doors ringing up from the first floor.

"Kendria, invite me in – now!" Damon panted, his face growing dark and angry as the steps drew closer.

"Come in," Kendria said.

In a flash, Damon was gone, Kendria's hair ruffling in the breeze of his passing her by into the apartment. As she was about to close the door a man appeared at the top step of her floor. His skin was a midnight black, with large amber eyes. He stood at least 6' 5" and he resembled something off a pro-wrestling program. His aggressive stance and clenched fists were disconcerting. When his lamp-like eyes swung to land on her, Kendria's back straightened out.

"Kendria close the door," Damon called from somewhere inside.

"Who are you?" Kendria demanded, narrowing her eyes.

The stranger paused a few feet from her doorstep and he seemed to be thinking. His fists unclenched and he bowed his head. "Ayele."

Damon was suddenly there, beside her, and Kendria forced down another shriek.

"Damon did he do this to you?" Kendria asked him softly, touching his bleeding bicep.

The man snarled something at him and Damon collapsed on the ground hissing in pain. His eyes looked up at her and Kendria saw the spidery veins surrounding them. He was terrifying, but he was the one on the ground in pain. It was eerie, watching the stranger – palms raised – chanting at Damon as he writhed on her carpet.

"Stop it!" Kendria shouted and the man broke off for a moment, his body giving a physical jerk. His skull hit the wall and the impact sent him into a mild daze.

When his eyes locked with hers again, the man looked even more dangerous.

"You stay away from him or I'll call the cops. Get out of here," Kendria threatened, stepping over Damon protectively shielding him. Ayele stood unmoving, unspeaking, his face grimacing – fighting against some invisible force. "Now!" With the power of her shout he lost his footing and Ayele pitched down the staircase.

Not waiting to see if he was going to come back, Kendria knelt down beside Damon, grabbed his broad shoulders and dragged him out of her doorway. She stood back up in a rush and slammed the door shut. The locks tinked and clicked as she shot them into place and re-chained the door in place.

"Damon," Kendria whispered and she helped him to his feet.

He snarled at her, eyes still that disturbing display of black veins and his mouth drawn back to reveal sharp teeth. Damon was the very image of a nightmare come to life. A tremor went up her arms, but Kendria forced it down and pulled him into her living room and helped him onto the divan she had fled. He fell against it and spat a curse when he jarred his shoulder against the corner. Even in his scariest moment, Kendria clung to one thought. He had saved her life; she would do him the same favor.

"What can I do?" she asked, keeping her tone calm.

"I need…blood," he told her, growling the last, eyes twitching, mouth gritted. His eyes connected with hers and Kendria bit her lip. He was staring at her neck. He wanted blood. He looked out of this world terrifying. All of this was adding up in a very unpleasant horror flick way. Kendria's mind went back to Ophelia's diary again and she winced. Ophelia was right. Vampire existed. Damon was a vampire.

"Well I'm all out of the bottled variety…" Kendria said, trying to lighten the moment and stop herself from going into full on shock. Pulling her hair away from her neck she knelt beside him, turned her back to him and gulped. "I guess you're going to have to straight from the tap."

The very air around them thickened with tension and Kendria waited in silence, listening to his haggard breathing, and then the breathing stopped. Warm breath teased the juncture between her neck and her shoulder and Kendria closed her eyes. Sharp points needled the soft flesh of her neck and Kendria withheld a whimper of fright. In the next moment Damon bit down – hard. Kendria gasped and made a noise deep in her throat, hands fisting in her lap. The bite was painful at first, but it settled into a dull throb with each new pull. His tongue swirled along the bite when he released her and a single teardrop of blood slid down her front, disappearing into her blue silk robe.

"Ow," Kendria said, clamping a hand over the wound and turning to see Damon reclining with his eyes closed.

Before her eyes Damon's wounds closed. The intense mottled black, blue, and purple bruising faded into yellow and then into the pristine color of his skin tone. Each black vein slowly receded and his sharp, bulky teeth dulled in his mouth. The only evidence of the monster he had been moments ago was the remaining traces of her blood on his lips and chin. Reaching up with a daring hand, Kendria cupped his right cheek and his crystal blue eyes opened to stare at her.

"Are you alright?" she rasped, the throbbing in her neck pained under the pressure of her hand.

"I think that's my line," Damon told her, one of his hands joining hers on his cheek.

"I need a bandage," Kendria said, her eyes fluttering as the adrenaline of the moment wore off. "I think I might faint."

"Oh don't do that, not attractive," Damon teased in a way that was familiar to her. Kendria nodded, but her eyes trying to close. "Kendria?" he said and it sounded so far away that Kendria heard it as a whisper. She tried to open her eyes. She tried to say something about where the bathroom was. She tried not to faint; but when Damon's secure arms folded around her, Kendria let go and faded into the darkness.

_**Author's Note:**_ Thank you reviewers! I've had a blast reading all your comments. I know you have probably figured it out by now (it's not like I've been subtle) but yes Kendria is taking after her ancestors. She is now developing her gypsy powers. How will this relate to Klaus, the curse, Ophelia, and more? Well I guess you'll just have to keep reading to find out ;) I will be following some of the plot from the show, but I have a lot of twists and original subplot that I plan to incorporate. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I can't wait to hear what you have to say. EK!


	7. Chapter 7

**Forever Young**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own the Vampire Diaries.

**Author: **Egyptian Kiss

**Pairing: **Damon/OC

**Rating: **MA

**Summary: **Kendria Fell was Mystic Falls queen before she left for a 4 year education at NYU. Now that she's back with an architectural degree in hand, she plans to build her life anew. Werewolves, vampires, and jealous sisters aside;Kendria is about to discover a centuries old family secret.

**Chapter Seven**

As Kendria came awake she realized she was tucked in tightly in her own bed. Trying to draw up a vague recollection of what happened; her mind replayed everything from her unbelievable wine glass trick to Damon sinking his fangs into her neck. Sitting up with a jolt, Kendria looked around her room and as her senses ratcheted into full awareness, she heard her shower going. Damon.

Running a calming hand through her hair, Kendria sighed. On a scale of one to ten on the weirdness meter her life was currently ranking right up there at an eleven. Pushing back the blankets, Kendria cautiously stood and waited for nausea to hit. When it didn't, she touched the spot on her neck that should still be sore from Damon's monster canines, only to find it was smooth and unblemished. In fact, Kendria felt ready for a marathon. Her whole body felt suffused with excitable energy – her skin felt like it was vibrating with anxious excitement, her whole body a livewire.

Walking to her bedroom door, Kendria pushed it shut and stared at herself in the full length mirror that was hooked over the top of the door. Turning her neck to and fro, she saw no holes, not glaring bite that said 'I was bitten by a vampire' and everything about her seemed too perfect for words. Her hands came up to rub her eyes and then her face and when nothing changed, Kendria sighed more deeply. Okay, just one more inexplicable event to add to the last twenty four hours, Kendria thought with a glance to her alarm clock. It was noon the next day.

The shower shut off and Kendria was greeted to a dripping wet vision of Damon as he entered her room. She was checking her phone message – two voicemails from Carol Lockwood and one from Rebecca – and her mind froze. Damon had a towel slung around his hips, his bare chest glistening with water droplets, his hair dripping, his muscular chest and biceps on full display. A familiar rush of heat settled in her lower abdomen and Kendria let her eyes run over him. Being the cocky, self-assured man he was, Damon let her drink her fill of him, pausing in her doorway, and then he moved toward her where Kendria sat on her bed.

"Sleeping beauty is awake," Damon said.

"Yes, and she is very confused," Kendria responded, crossing her arms over her chest. Her nipples felt sensitive as her arms brushed against them and she imaged Damon's lips licking, sucking, biting – and that was where her arousing thoughts went right back to the fact he's a vampire.

"It's pretty straight forward logic. I'm a vampire," Damon said, shrugging, his bare shoulders brushing hers.

The confirmation rocked her, but Kendria nodded. "Yeah, but why don't I have a bite mark? And who was that guy?"

Damon rolled his eyes, "Let's not complicate things. That guy? Not important. And you are feeling the benefits of being amped up on vampire blood. Fast healing." His flippant response was frustrating and…reassuring all at the same time.

"You gave me your blood?" Kendria whispered. Her mouth didn't taste any different than normal, her tongue wasn't covered with a coppery liquid aftertaste, or the urge to pull a hangover and throw up.

Smirking, Damon nodded, "Let's just say you have a little something extra running in your veins. It'll pass in a few days."

A sudden onslaught of visions struck her and Kendria shook her head. The night that Damon saved her life, she saw him licking at the blood from an open wound in her leg, her bone jutting out from the broken skin; another passed, when they were having sex and his head was between her legs, something she didn't at all remember, his mouth sealed over her inner thigh and bit down hard; each time he bit his wrist and a small amount of blood trickled into her mouth only for him to quickly pull away.

"What was that?" Kendria whispered, taking her head in both hands.

"What was what?" Damon asked, leaning down to stick his face beneath hers to see her staring eyes.

"You've done it before. Bitten me? Made me drink from you?" Kendria said, sitting up straight and nearly slamming her head into his body which was turned to face her.

Reclining back on her bed, Damon shrugged, "A couple times. Humans can be so breakable if we're not careful. Besides, would you rather have had to spend a night in the emergency room with a broken leg and an IV stuck in your arm?"

"And the time you bit my thigh? What, was I in danger of not having an orgasm?" Kendria asked sarcastically even as her eyes trailed down his stomach to the edge of the bath sheet.

Damon's eyes danced in amusement, and his face turned dark, "No, I think you'll remember having several after that."

Rolling her eyes, Kendria playfully slapped his bare stomach and let her fingers linger over the happy trail that disappeared beneath the blue towel.

"So you saved my life and now I saved yours. Guess we're even," Kendria said, leaning in close to his finely chiseled chest to suck a droplet of water from his left nipple.

Groaning, Damon buried a hand in her hair, "You're taking this really well."

Smirking against his chest, Kendria lightly bit his nipple and then placed a wet, closed mouth kiss to it before pulling back.

"I read something recently that made this the remotest of possibilities," Kendria said, running her fingers down the middle of his chest to the towel's edge, her fingernails running just under the rim, his abs twitching in response.

Just as quickly as the mood had shifted from serious to playful it was back to serious again. Damon sat upright and grabbed her by the shoulders and Kendria gasped, meeting his eyes.

"What did you read that made you think vampires were anything other than a myth?" Damon asked, his tone dangerous.

"A journal, from one of my ancestors," Kendria replied immediately.

His piercing icy blue eyes roved over her face, "Whose?"

"Ophelia Fell," Kendria said, putting her hand up to his chest lightly, defining the space between them.

His face screwed up in thought and Kendria felt his grip ease. Damon's personality was so up and down, his moods serious, playful, teasing, and pensive.

"I remember her," Damon finally said.

Kendria's eye grew wide and she made an incredulous sound in the back of her throat.

"You knew Ophelia Fell? How old are you?" Kendria whispered.

Damon's smirk was back and he pulled her close, her back to his chest so his mouth was beside her ear, "A hundred and seventy give or take a few years. Don't I look good for my age?"

"If you weren't so hot, that'd be creepy," Kendria told him and her body shivered at his breath on her neck next.

"I need you to do me a favor," Damon said.

"What?" Kendria asked, breathless.

"I need you to run back to wherever you got that journal and snag it for me. I'd consider it a personal favor," Damon said, running his tongue along the column of her neck, breathing over the wet skin in foreplay.

"It belongs to my family. If I get it for you, I want it back," Kendria said, trying to remain in control. Damn his sex appeal.

"Deal."

"And no mid-afternoon snacking. I have to be somewhere tonight."

"Ah yes, the pretty princess and her ball," Damon teased, his teeth now razor sharp, trailing along her neck in shallow, bloodless scraps.

Just thinking about the Founder's Party seemed to bring her back to reality and Kendria pulled away from Damon. She had to call Carol Lockwood back and her sister, and get ready for the party. Aside from the revelation her life was now a horror movie come to life, Kendria still had responsibilities that weren't going to let her take a breath to adjust. As for her new found wine catching abilities, Kendria couldn't even think about that right now. Life goes on, Kendria thought exasperatedly.

"Oh come on, it's not for hours. Let's play," Damon said, reaching out as Kendria stood to snag her around the waist and pull her back down in a heap, flush against him. He cocooned her body with his and placed drugging kisses along her neck – God if that wasn't her most sensitive E-zone.

"Damon," Kendria giggled when he tickled her ribs, "Stop. I have to make a call and I still need to unpack."

Growling playfully, he nipped at her neck, not hard enough to break skin, just enough to make her moan, "I think you want to play."

"Somehow I think there should be a warning label attached to you. Do not provoke the blood hungry vampire," Kendria said, gasping between laughs and trying to get at him to find his ticklish spot – apparently he didn't have one.

Damon paused above her, staring at her with something she couldn't read in his eyes. His shift from playful to…whatever it was that was in his eyes was disturbing. "You don't have to be afraid of me, Kendria. I do terrible things, but. Well I didn't go through the trouble of saving you to kill you now."

His words were chilling, an ice bucket to the heated moment, and Kendria shivered. She could see the killer under that diamond-hard gaze, the predator that had probably killed indiscriminately, and the reality of it took the mysticism right out of the moment. But she believed him; something inside of her told Kendria she was safe. Maybe she was letting sex cloud her judgment, but something inside of him called to something inside of her and Kendria allowed him to kiss her again. Logic be damned.

When they pulled apart it was to the ringing of Kendria's phone. She wondered how she had slept so heavily she hadn't heard it the first three times, but she reached around Damon and grabbed it.

"Hello?" Kendria asked, holding Damon's shoulder for support as he kissed down her neck and her clavicle.

"Kendria, dear, it's Carol. I was calling to confirm you for this evening. Richard has a business associate that I would like you to meet," Carol Lockwood said in lieu of a greeting.

One of Damon's hands came up between her legs to brush against her flimsy underwear, and Kendria bit back a moan, "I'll be there Carol."

"And your plus one?" Carol asked persistently.

Damon slid down to his knees between her thighs and he smirked up at her, hooking two fingers in her barely there night wear and tugging her panties free until they were slingshot across the room. He winked and his head dipped down for a swirling taste.

"Um…I was going to go alone," Kendria started and she got a bite in reprimand, "but I'm going with Damon Salvatore now." His tongue laved over the almost-too-deep bite in agreement.

"Oh wonderful. He's quite handsome. You two will make such a beautiful couple. So I'll see you tonight for the party."

"Okay Carol. Thank you for calling. Bye," Kendria said, trying her best not to sound breathless and wanton – she succeeded except for the slight husk her voice took on at the end when Damon thrust his tongue inside her moist heat.

"Bye now," Carol said, and the line went dead.

Tossing the phone away from her, Kendria buried her hands in Damon's hair, her nails digging into his scalp, and his tongue grew more active. He thrust and swirled and sucked her to the edge and when Kendria thought she'd fly into a million pieces of shattered pleasure, he pulled back and dropped the towel from his waist.

Damon's playful eyes beamed at her, and his powerful hands hooked under her knees, drawing Kendria to the end of the bed before he leaned in, pressing his chest to hers, and pushed home. His cock slid inside her, filling her emptiness, and pumped her harder and harder.

"So not funny," Kendria whispered in his ear, groaning when he thrust harder and deeper in response. "No more sex while I'm on the phone."

"Oh setting up rules now? I was never one to follow rules. But if you like to be in control…" Damon said trailing off, and then he moved them so quickly, Kendria had to brace her hands against his chest once she found herself on top of him. His member was pulsing in size inside of her and Kendria gasped and instinctively thrust down on him, rocking to the new rhythm he had set. His hands steadied her hips and his eyes, once so blue had become veined – blackness overtaking them.

Somehow, even staring down into those frightening eyes, Kendria became more aroused. Seeing those veins was the physical embodiment of Damon losing control and she tightened her walls around his pulsing flesh in response.

"Fuck, so deep," Kendria gasped, slamming down harder, grinding into his hips until her pelvis ached.

"Faster," Damon demanded, his hands pistoned her faster, her body almost shivering as the air rushed up and down her body in chills as her flesh moved hurriedly. It was dizzying having this much power over him, feeling his need, her whole body quaking in response.

"I'm gonna…" Kendria cried, the last drowned out by the sound of her whimpers. Her body spasmed, her sheath clenched, and her fingernails dug deeply into Damon's chest, the nail crescents leaving bloody marks.

That did it for Damon. His body seized up in a violent shudder, an inhuman growl emitting from his be-fanged mouth, and in the next moment of spiraling release, Kendria felt the bodice of her negligee fall to her waist, his mouth capturing one swinging breast and his fangs bit deep. Her body convulsed in sweaty, orgasmic shivers, and the pulling of blood into Damon's mouth sent her body into multiple waves of release.

"Oh God, Damon," Kendria screamed, and her hands unclenched from his chest to pound the mattress beside his head in volatile slaps, her blood dotted fingerprints smudging the comforter.

A growl vibrated around her breast as Damon guzzled her warm, wet blood, his throat making sexy noises, and when he released her, Kendria dropped against him, her arms giving way. Two heavily muscled arms trapped her against his body, his chest slick with blood, her breasts smearing to match, and her chest heaved from their exertions, her clit throbbing against his pelvis as his softening cock slipped out of her quivering core.

"That was intense," Kendria whispered by his ear, her tongue tracing the shell.

Damon 'hmmed' in response and nuzzled his face in her hair, tucking her head under his chin.

After a long silence, Kendria lifted her head, her face level with his, "Do you have any special superpowers?"

Damon snorted and a pleased grin spread across his face.

"Yes."

Kendria waited and when he didn't continue she poked his gut.

"Like what?"

"Why should I humor you?" Damon asked, stealing a soft, dizzying kiss.

After a deep breath, Kendria said, "Because I want to know."

With a deep, mock-suffering sigh, Damon said, "I can compel humans to act, speak, and think anyway I want. I'm stronger, faster, smarter – basically better in all ways than your average human. I need blood to survive, I can walk in the daylight with this nifty little ring," Damon wiggled his ringed finger at her in a teasing wave, "and I'll never age a day."

Running curious fingers along his jaw, Kendria was consumed by what he was saying. Realizing that vampires exist was so beyond the realm of human thinking it was scary. Kendria remembered reading Dracula and Anne Rice in high school and being in love with the idea of such a romanticized creature existing, but fantasy and reality were two very different things. The look on Damon's face the night before when that man did whatever he did, the murder in Damon's eyes, it was chilling.

A calming hand ran down her spine, and Kendria realized she'd gone quiet for some time.

"I have to call my sister and I need to unpack some of my dresses to get ready for tonight," Kendria finally said, her elbow propped up on Damon's abs and her fist holding up her chin.

"And what time will Cinderella be ready?" Damon asked, his expression amused.

"Six-thirty. And if I'm Cinderella that makes you Prince Charming," Kendria said, swooping in for a kiss. Even knowing how dangerous Damon is, even knowing he could snap her in half in the time it takes to blink, she felt drawn to him.

"I've been known to be very, very charming," Damon said and he wrapped an arm around her back and pulled her into another seductive kiss. His tongue danced with hers, dominating her.

And then Kendria found herself bouncing on the bed, Damon standing by the door in full nude glory, and smirking at her.

"My ride and my clothes will be here soon. Unless you want me to ravish you one more time before I go you better put some real clothes on. And I don't usually give warnings," Damon said, eyes twinkling.

Rather than replying, Kendria stood up and sauntered passed Damon and into her bathroom. Teasing Damon was like baiting a shark, and Kendria was rapidly becoming an adrenaline junkie.

By the time Kendria was done showering, redressed in a temporary pair of sweat shorts and a loose off-the-shoulder tee, Damon was dressed in leather pants and a black designer button up. Stefan was lingering by the entrance waiting for Damon to hurry up.

"Hi Stefan," Kendria said, pulling her damp hair up into a ponytail. "How are you?"

Shifting uneasily, Stefan shrugged and offered a polite smile, "Fine. And yourself?"

Damon appeared behind her, arms around her waist, face in the crook of her neck, and answered for her, "She's delicious." Kiss behind her ear. "Sexy." Another kiss along her jaw. "Tempting." Another one on her pulse point which had quickened as his hands massaged circles against her stomach.

"Stop that," Kendria whispered, fighting down a giggle. "I'm doing well. Will you be at the Founder's party tonight?"

Stefan had this intent look on his face, a cross between brooding and pensive, and he nodded. "I'll be escorting Elena."

"Ah the lovely Elena, and how is the double of our ex-girlfriend doing today?" Damon asked, his voice taunting.

Kendria, caught off guard, turned in Damon's arms to look up at him.

"What?"

"Damon," Stefan said, coming further into the room, face hardening.

"She already knows about us, Steffie. Kendria can keep a secret, can't you?" Damon asked the last to her and Kendria nodded. "A hundred and forty-five years ago a woman named Katherine, a vampire, dated and turned us both. She just so happens to look exactly like Elena Gilbert. Not that that's why Stefan came back to Mystic Falls, right Stefan?" Again that taunting tone.

Stefan turned away from them and Kendria placed a hand on Damon's face and frowned, "Leave him alone."

"Ah and Saint Stefan has my lady championing for him," Damon sneered, but when Kendria's frown deepened, he kissed it away and shrugged. "Fine. I'm on my best behavior. I'll be back with your carriage at six-thirty."

"Where something sexy," Kendria replied, slapping Damon's ass and giggling when he growled and squeezed her buttocks, her feet leaving the ground as he lifted her for a final kiss.

"You're stealing all my lines," Damon teased and then he was across the room beside Stefan in a blurred run. He clapped Stefan on the back and directed him toward the door. It shut behind them.

Heading for the nearest box marked bedroom, Kendria sighed. Six-thirty was too far away.

_**A/N:**_ Next chapter comes the Founder's party and things are really going to get interesting *evil laugh* lol. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, though it was a bit of a filler. This chapter was more about Kendria finding out a bit about vampires and Damon (and Stefan and Katherine's past) than it was an event. I really enjoyed all the great reviews so a big thanks to everyone who took the time to let me know what you thought. Let me know what you think, EK!


	8. Chapter 8

**Forever Young**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own the Vampire Diaries.

**Author: **Egyptian Kiss

**Pairing: **Damon/OC

**Rating: **MA

**Summary: **Kendria Fell was Mystic Falls queen before she left for a 4 year education at NYU. Now that she's back with an architectural degree in hand, she plans to build her life anew. Werewolves, vampires, and jealous sisters aside;Kendria is about to discover a centuries old family secret.

_**Author's Note:**_ Hey guys, sorry it's taken me so long to update, but life is crazy and I was in writer's rut for bit. I hope you all had happy holidays and that you are gearing up for a great new year. I have taken liberties with the plot and timeline from the show, and I will continue to do so. Some new characters are about to make their entrance into this story. I hope you enjoy. EK!

**Chapter Eight**

"So tall, dark, and gorgeous is playing the white knight for the big party at the Lockwood's?" Belle's voice blared from Kendria's cell phone speakers.

"I see Damon more as a dark knight type. But that's the gist of it," Kendria called loudly, elbows deep in a box looking for her favorite peep toe gold heels.

"I just can't believe that Mystic Falls has its sweetheart back. I bet Carol Lockwood is having kittens that she'll have more time to convince you to marry one of her well established family members," Belle teased. "Hey what are you wearing tonight?"

"God, I'd still rather die than marry a Lockwood. They are all controlling cavemen who drool like it's a sport. Except Mason and we all know how that went," Kendria said. "You haven't seen this dress yet. It's new, a grad gift from Rachel. A bright gold, strapless, knee length dress with uneven, ruffled hem, deep v-neck, and a bow with an Austrian crystal accent. She could have a real career in fashion. Now tell me about bartender guy from last night."

"Damon won't know what hit him. Bartender boy rates a second date. Kendria he does this thing with his tongue! Ow…it's worth investing in more quality time," Belle said sassily.

Laughing, Kendria finally pulled on her heels and heard the door bell ring.

"My date is here," Kendria announced, picking up her phone and fiddling with her bangs while looking in the mirror. The dress fit perfectly, the shoes were just right, and her natural, golden glow makeup was a light touch. Her hair was down in wavy layers, and her grandmother's diamond earrings made her a picture. It had been a long while since Kendria had attended a Mystic Falls event and she planned to mark her reentrance into polite society.

"I wish I could see you right now. Oh! Text me a pic! Do it quick," Belle insisted and Kendria was already snapping a shot and sending it as she made her way out to her apartment door. She opened it as Belle squealed with renewed excitement and blather on in a continuous stream of compliments while Kendria shared an amused look with Damon and a quick hello kiss.

Taking him in from head to toe, Kendria had to admit that Damon cleaned up nice. It was weird to think he was around in the days when suits and tuxedos were appropriate day wear. In his hand was a single rose, dark blue in color, and that dangerous smirk of his was fixed in place.

"…and he'll just love your hair. It is definitely sex hair – in a good way," Belle finished.

"I agree," Damon said loudly, twirling a long tendril that spiraled softly near her right ear.

"Hi, I'm Belle," Belle said laughingly.

"Damon," he said.

"Um, this is where I say goodbye Belle," Kendria said, accepting the blue rose and reaching for her matching gold clutch by the entry way.

"Have a great night. I'll tell you more about Paul tomorrow," Belle said.

"Who's Paul?" Kendria asked as she handed Damon her keys to lock her door behind them.

"Bartender guy. Bye."

"Oh, okay, night," Kendria said, hanging up and turning to face Damon in front of her door. "Sorry about that."

"Not a problem. You look beautiful, by the way. Love the hair," Damon teased, smiling with a softness that made Kendria lean up and kiss him. The hand that had been holding her phone curled around the nape of his neck, and his tongue slid in her mouth, stealing her breath.

A neighbor's door opened several flights up and the bam of a closing door made Kendria pull back. Her lips tingled with his kiss and her breath came in soft pants, their eyes stayed locked.

"Now that is a hello," Damon said, tugging her towards the stairs, he pressed a hand to the small of her back.

Damon drove at break neck speeds, shifting gears in blurry movements, and yet Kendria's eyes remained fixed on his profile.

"Why did you come back to town?" Kendria found herself asking as they drew closer to the Lockwood estate.

Damon's icy eyes were roving listlessly across the dark road ahead, but his brow creased in concentration. Two heartbeats later, Kendria was sure he wasn't going to answer.

"I thought someone I cared about was trapped in the tomb under Fell's church, but I was wrong, she wasn't there," his voice was distracted, hesitant, and the sound was halting.

Kendria wished she hadn't asked. Damon had basically admitted that he was here because he had wanted to get his girlfriend back. They weren't technically in a relationship. They had dated a couple times now. They had had mind blowing sex. But that did not a relationship make. She tried to shake off that annoying achy feeling that had sprung up in her chest, and cleared her throat.

"Oh."

Damon looked over at her then as the lights preceding the Lockwood driveway cast their glow into the car's interior. She looked ethereal sitting so still and composed. She shifted her head and their eyes locked again and a tangible sexual tension heated between them.

"Things change," Damon announced, and he looked at the road again.

Mayor Lockwood, his wife Carol, and their son Tyler stood the pinnacle of the Mystic Falls High Society family, standing in front of their towering estate. The lavish home had been renovated in some areas, Kendria noted, taking in the subtle differences visible from the outside of the home in the evening twilight as Damon handed her out of the car. The Lockwoods stood waiting as the host and hostess to welcome newcomers to the event. Their breeding was clear from their clean cut lines and the way they held themselves. Kendria's hand was politely tucked in the crooked of Damon's arm, and her posture was impeccably straight, her head high, and her lips pulled into a practiced smile.

"Hello Mayor Lockwood, Carol, Tyler. Thank you for inviting us into your home," Kendria said formally with a sophisticated lilt in her tone.

"It is a pleasure to receive you," Mayor Lockwood replied.

"The pleasure is ours," Damon said. "Nice to see you again, Richard, Carol." He completely ignored Tyler's presence, not an unnoticed slight. Tyler shot him a glare that broke his monotonous, bored stare.

"Such a charmer. Kendria, dear, after I finish up my hostess duties here, I would love to introduce you to a friend who is in the area on a research endeavor. He will be making a generous donation to the historical society if his findings go well," Carol announced as she drew Kendria into a light embrace.

"Of course," Kendria said, pulling back and allowing Damon's hand to guide her, passing into the main entryway.

"Enjoy your evening. You look lovely," Carol called.

One of Damon's hands rested against the small of her back and ushered her through the hallway and into one of the main rooms. She spotted her brother and his reporter friend at the bar, her sister Rebecca was sitting on a couch surrounded by teenaged male admirers and her three best friends sat like her ladies-in-waiting on a couch to her left, and Stefan, Elena, and Caroline were huddled together by a large, old-fashioned brick fireplace that was crackling nicely – if not a bit warmly on such a nice evening.

The music pouring through the surround sound speakers was a classical number that sounded oddly like all of the songs Kendria had ever heard at a Lockwood party.

"Let's get a drink," Damon suggested, his eyes narrowed on something at the bar, and Kendria nodded and followed.

"What can I get you?" asked a twenty-something, college age bartender in standard employee attire, black and white uniform, a pristine white towel slapped over one shoulder. His eyes trailed over Kendria's form as she leaned on the bar.

"White wine," Kendria said and averted her eyes from her brother and turned to face Damon in hopes their entrance had been overlooked.

"Scotch," Damon said casually, and his arm came to rest along her shoulders, his hand dipping down to brush at her neckline teasingly.

"Behave," Kendria whispered with a smile touching the corners of her lips.

His hand reached lower to brush her décolleté and his mouth lowered to her left ear, his warm breath caressing her sensitive skin, and he whispered, voice black as sin and seduction, "Behaving is boring. Be wild."

Shivers and lightning struck her to the core and Kendria grew wet and wanting, as his tongue traced the shell of her ear and gently nipped along the skin behind her ear down the column of her neck, and teasing her jackknifing pulse as it hammered against her golden skin.

"Hey sis, getting hot and heavy in public? Trying out for 'Girls Gone Wild'?" Logan's unpleasant snark chilled the heated moment and Kendria tucked stray tendrils of hair behind her ear. "Hi, we didn't get the chance to meet the last time you were entertaining my sister. I'm Logan Fell."

"Ah, the lesser half of the gene pool. Every family has one, or two," Damon responded, his eyes turning a dark sapphire in the dim light as he accepted his scotch and his eyes moved from Logan to the now approaching Rebecca.

Rebecca Fell, unlike Kendria, stormed with an entitled swagger almost everywhere she went. There was more steel in Rebecca than anyone else in the Fell family. She was hot tempered, self-centered, and determined to achieve success in her terms. She wanted to marry money and position so she pursued a Lockwood, and was now in line to be the next Carol Lockwood of Mystic Falls. Her only competition in all things had been her own siblings and Caroline Forbes. Kendria could tell by her fixed path and that glint of hardness forged under the softness of a society façade that her little sister was seething with anger, and that Logan's remark had been a little loud.

"Excuse me? Do you know who I –"

"Save it, Logan. Take your grade school one liners and go back to your date," Kendria whispered, doing her best not to draw more attention to what was turning into one of the cherished Fell family moments.

"What is wrong with you two?" Rebecca whisper shouted prissily. "You look like you're about to be taken right on the bar," she said, pointing at Kendria, "and you sound like an arrogant, pompous, presumptuous ass," she exclaimed, poking an index finger into his chest hard, "which is a pretty fair assessment of your personality, but let's not share it with the result of the community."

"Ow, stop poking me," Logan snapped.

"Do not embarrass me at one of the season's biggest events. I am in the running for Miss Mystic Falls and if you have a hand in causing me to lose by any margin, I will personally make your life a living hell, Logan Fell. That goes for you too, Kendria. Now put on your happy smiles and toast a drink to me. I just got nominated June Bug Princess for the festival next month, and if I win I'll be sharing a float with Nathaniel," Rebecca lectured, her smiling stretching tightly as she retrieved a glass of champagne from the bar, chinking it to Kendria's wine glass, and downing the contents.

"You are underage," Logan pointed out disinterestedly as he faked a congenial smile.

"Bite me," Rebecca responded, grinning in mock delight before she then turned on her heel and walked off.

"She's a breath of fresh air," Damon said, rolling his eyes. He tapped his empty scotch glass on the bar twice and the bartender refilled him.

Just then, Andie came up to the group and she was in full reporter mode. Her smile was too wide and her eyes too wide – as if she were scanning everything and everyone for a scoop every second of the day.

"Logan, I thought you were getting a quick drink. Oh, hello Kendria," Andie said, coming to stand beside Logan at the bar.

"Forgive me, I was talking to my sister and her date," Logan said in false apology.

"Damon, this is Andie Star. Andie, this is Damon Salvatore – my date," Kendria said in polite introduction, her hand coming up to grip Damon's arm in a possessive manner. The way that Andie's eyes swept over Damon irritated her, but the way Damon scanned her in a head to toe glance was more than moderately annoying.

"A pleasure," Damon greeted, taking Andie's hand and giving it a too friendly shake. "What is it you do for a living?"

"I work with Logan at the news station in town, I cover background checks and I sometimes act as a mouthpiece for other undercover journalists. We keep track of the intimate goings on of Mystic Falls – finding the truth beneath the quaint, small town charm," Andie confided in a flirtingly mysterious way.

"I see an opportunity to talk to the mayor, I'll be back," Logan suddenly announced, bounding off in the direction of the back pool room.

"So Miss Star, working on any big leads?" Damon asked flippantly, giving her his classic smirk even as Kendria gave a silent sigh of that ever present annoyance.

Andie laughed and lifted a hand to push back her hair, "A few actually. This town is steeped in mystery and intrigue. The strange deaths alone make this place a media maelstrom."

Having lost interest in the conversation and the vibe currently arcing between Andie and Damon, Kendria stood up and broke free of the triangle she found herself in and excused herself, walking to the DJ's setup in the corner. Stepping up onto the upraised platform that overlooked the finely polished wood floor cleared for dancing, Kendria handed him a twenty and wrote down a song before fighting her way back to Damon at the bar. He had relocated closer to Andie and the two were in an engaging conversation, or so it appeared.

"Damon I would like to dance," Kendria informed him as the song playing started to fade away, her song next on the cue.

"Andie is actually in the middle of a very interesting story," Damon said, his eyes saying something significant that Kendria didn't understand. She knew one thing, he wanted to stay seated.

"Okay. I'm going to dance," Kendria said turning on her heel.

Kendria Fell was no one's second best. Her eyes caught on a man standing beside Carol Lockwood, dark brown hair, long and straight in a sweep that kept his hair out of his face. His features held a certain wisdom, a maturity, but he looked young and handsome, his eyes were dark, coal black in appearance, and his whole being seemed to vibrate intensity.

Giving another look over her shoulder found Damon listening to Andie intently. Taking a calming breath, Kendria made her way to the stranger and Carol Lockwood just as the music kicked up in volume and "Give Me Everything" by Pitbull started to thump from the speakers, the floor vibrating slightly as the chandeliers swayed.

"Dance with me," Kendria asked when she came to stop in front of him, and the man tilted his head to the right a little, smiled, and nodded, offering her his hand.

The dance floor had been clear before the song started and as this mystery man spun her out across its shining surface, Kendria faintly heard Carol say something along the lines of "who is responsible for this God awful music?" and her previously fake smile turned mischievously satisfied.

The beat of the song pulsed and the sexy tone seduced her body and Kendria spun out in a shimmy feeling his firm fingers grasp the tips of her own and pull her back in. When her back was to his hard muscled chest they moved together in a brow-raising grind, their hips moving in perfect tandem as they gyrated. His hands were on her ribcage, and she threw her head over his shoulder, her leg hooking backwards around the back of his knee while he held her as she leaned down before he sharply pulled her back up. His presence led her around the dance floor in a salsa inspired series of moves.

A murmuring crowd had gathered and Kendria basked in remembrance. There were so many times in life she was the center of all things, as if she were gravity and everyone else was drawn in – it was a powerful, drugging feeling, and she relished it. The rasp of his shirt against her daringly bare back made her shiver, and Kendria's eyes sought Damon in the crowd. He stood at the bar still, his avid attention, however, was not on the chatty Andie Star, it was on her. His face was an impenetrable mask, but when his stare connected with her eyes as soon as she looked at him, she shivered again in her stranger's hands.

"Big finish," the stranger warned, his breath on her neck, mouth by her ear as they did a fancy step combo.

Kendria's eyes flickered up to his burning black stare and then back to Damon's baby blues before following his lead. As the song hit its zenith, her feet left the floor, and he tossed her body in a horizontal spiral up toward the high ceilings, she was suspended in air, flying for one thrilling moment, before she came twirling back down into his arms. One steely arm banded around her waist firmly, the other hand grabbed her right one and pulled her out in a final spin before dipping her dead center of the dance floor, one hand burning the high back of her right thigh while the other supported her spine, and her body hung fluidly in an arch.

There was a burst of applause as the music quickly segued into another boring classical number. Kendria glanced in the DJ's direction and saw Carol Lockwood berating him. Smiling, Kendria looked up at her dance partner and found him already branding her with his black eyes.

"I'm sorry I didn't introduce myself. I'm Kendria Fell," Kendria said, sweeping her hair off her face, her heartbeat still pounding from the rigor of their dance. "You are an excellent dancer."

"It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss Fell. My name is Elijah. I find that a dancer is only as good as his partner," he replied and Kendria beamed.

Suddenly Damon was there. He appeared out of the dispersing crowd of onlookers, and his arm slid around Kendria's waist. He turned her to him and proceeded to kiss her, thoroughly, as Elijah looked on, stoic.

Damon's tongue was warm and inviting as it slid across Kendria's lip, her stomach quivering in excitement, but when she opened her mouth she none-too-gently nipped the tip and pulled away. The surprised expression on Damon's face when she pulled back made it easier to steady her hammering heart and face Elijah again.

"Damon, this is Elijah. Elijah, this is Damon Salvatore," Kendria introduced.

"Her date," Damon announced, offering Elijah the hand not currently pulling her into his side. The handshake looked polite, but Kendria noticed Damon's mouth turn down in a frustrated frown and his hand was red and white from squeezing too hard, Elijah looked utterly unruffled.

"Oh good, I found you," Carol said, popping up at Elijah's side. She looked flustered from lecturing the DJ, her cheeks pinked and her ivory dress slightly rumpled from climbing up on the platform in her high heels. "Elijah, this is Kendria Fell. She is the one I was telling you about. She's a Fell, one of the founder's families of Mystic Falls. She has just returned from four years at New York University with a degree in architecture and would be more than happy to help you in your research."

"What kind of research are you doing?" Kendria asked, accepting a glass of champagne from a passing waiter's tray.

"I'm looking into the history of Mystic Falls and rumors that there was a settlement of people here before this town was founded. Current evidence is pointing in that direction. I'll be exploring land lines and trying to gather more facts during my stay," Elijah answered, his lips smiling, but something was dangerous in that smile. "Are you familiar with the ruins and architecture in Mystic Falls?"

"Not extensively. However, one of my best friends, Jenna Sommers, is great at researching this kind of thing. I'd be willing to do my homework on the architectural history of Mystic Falls and see what she can help us come up with," Kendria offered, leaning unconsciously into Damon's body as he stood stiffly beside her. His eyes were searching the crowd and had landed on his younger brother, Stefan.

"I will take you up on that offer," Elijah said and his dark eyes calculating.

"Carol has my information so please feel free to give me a call," Kendria said.

"Oh Damon, Liz wanted me to ask you if you could drop by tomorrow morning," Carol said.

Damon turned on the charm, offering up a sexy smile, and nodded.

"I'll drop by. But right now, I am taking my date for a walk," he said and Kendria allowed his hand to guide her away.

"It was nice to meet you," Kendria called and found herself being led out onto a dimly lit patio that preceded the walkways that led out into the roving lawns and gardens.

"That was some dance," Damon whispered against her neck when he had her far enough away from the house that the talking and music were a distant hum.

"And to think," Kendria replied, her voice breathy, "that you were too busy to dance."

Turning her roughly, Damon lifted her feet from the ground and crushed her against his chest, his lips punishing hers in a bruising kiss, his tongue forcing entry to her soft mouth, and unlike before, his teeth were the ones nipping at her tongue. A fang caught her tongue, scrapping lightly and Kendria moaned into Damon's mouth as he sucked voraciously on it. She thrust one hand into his silky hair, palming his skull, clutching him closer, and the other on one broad shoulder to pull him in.

Damon yanked his head back, forcing Kendria to relinquish her hold on him, and his trailed hard, wet, open-mouthed kisses along her jaw, sucking gently down her neck to the juncture at her shoulder, and he paused for a moment before biting down hard and hungry.

Crying out as the familiar pleasure pain filled her, Kendria clutched his back with both hands, quivering in his arms, and heat pooled in her lower abdomen, wetness forming between her thighs. She moaned at each long pull of his mouth. Damon moved a hand up her thigh, the hem of her dress drawing up in a bunch above his determined hand. He released her neck from his bite, pushing her panties out of the way, and thrust two fingers deep inside of her. She contracted around his digits, her muscles milking him as he curled a fingertip to nudge insistently at her sweet spot.

"Damon, don't play with me," Kendria rasped and his fingers moved faster in response.

"Do you know what your dance did to me?" Damon asked, adding another finger, moving quicker at her hiss. "I wanted to take you right on the dance floor. Fuck you in front of everyone."

Kendria's whole body shuddered at his words and she felt herself nearing climax. "Faster."

"You like that idea, don't you," he groaned, lapping at her neck wound.

"So close," she whispered back, biting her lip 'til it bled.

His mouth came down on her to lick her lip and he bit down on it gently just as her orgasm crested. The intensity of it crashed down on her and Kendria shamelessly pumped her hips against his hand, clenching his fingers tightly wishing he was inside of her. He let her ride it out and then pulled his fingers free, holding her upright as her whole body sagged, and she watched as Damon licked his fingers clean only to lean down for one last kiss.

The sound of approaching footsteps had Kendria hurriedly fixing her dress and Damon helped her stay upright, moving her hair over her still bloody shoulder.

"Damon?" Elena's voice intruded on the moment and Kendria felt like she was waking up from a dream – as was much of her time with Damon. Elena's figure appeared under one of the lamps a dozen feet away and she spotted them, embracing, in the shadowy end of the patio. Her steps faltered in her approach, hands twisting uncomfortably in front of her. "Stefan…was looking for you."

Kendria noted the slight distain, the undeniable interest, and the complete uncertainty that Elena exuded and her body coiled from its relaxed state in jealousy once again. Despite how wary everyone seemed around Damon, Elena was less so, in fact, she seemed unhappy to see them together.

"So my baby brother sent you out to fetch me?" Damon mocked, his eyes lit with something akin to enjoyment at the verbal barb.

Face hardening, Elena crossed her arms over her chest, "He said to meet him in the study."

"Message received. You can scamper back and tell him you delivered it," Damon said, laying an arm across Kendria's shoulder.

"You're such a –" Elena started but ended her sentence with a frustrated growl.

Once the faint click-click of Elena's heels faded, Kendria turned into Damon's arms again and hugged him to her. Her body felt languid against his, and she wished they were back at her apartment, no clothes between them.

"I have to go see what Saint Stefan is up to," Damon told her, his mouth brushing the top of her head before he rested her chin on her head.

"I'm a little partied out anyway. I should get home and clean up," Kendria murmured into his shirt, inhaling his scent deeply as she did.

His fingertips brushed her hair out of the way to see the damage his bite had inflicted and he sighed. She felt him move and then a wet thumb was being thrust into her mouth. The coppery taste of blood caused her to jerk back, but he held her for a moment and then pulled his finger out.

"That should be enough to seal the skin and prevent bruising. I'll meet you at your place as soon as I finish up with Stefan. Take my car," Damon said, passing her the keys.

"Wake me up if I'm sleeping, 'kay?" Kendria whispered, leaning up into his kiss and she left him standing on the patio. He looked so dangerous and handsome in the shadows, so right. A shiver of arousal gave her the strength to navigate her way through the crowd to the exit. She passed off a few easy pleasantries and kept her hair covering her shoulder.

By the time she got home and was opening her apartment door, Kendria was ready to drop into bed makeup, blood, and all. Damon's keys made a scrapping sound as she tossed them on the kitchen counter as she passed the dark open archway. She made her way in the dark to the living room and flicked on a light. Sitting on her couch was a short woman with flaming red hair and light ivory skin, adorned in black leather and biker boots, one leg crossed over the other and dirt flaking from the soles of her boots; Kendria shrieked in surprise and jumped back into the wall.

"Now is that any way to greet family?"

_**A/N:**_ Now who could that be? Got any guesses? I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I can't make any promises when the next update will be out, I have other fics to update and my winter break is over next week. Have a HAPPY NEW YEAR! Until next time, Egyptian_Kiss!


	9. Chapter 9

**Forever Young**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own the Vampire Diaries.

**Author: **Egyptian Kiss

**Pairing: **Damon/OC

**Rating: **MA

**Summary: **Kendria Fell was Mystic Falls queen before she left for a 4 year education at NYU. Now that she's back with an architectural degree in hand, she plans to build her life anew. Werewolves, vampires, and jealous sisters aside;Kendria is about to discover a centuries old family secret.

**Chapter Nine**

"Who the hell are you?" Kendria barked, holding a hand over her rapidly beating heart.

A vicious smirk etched across the woman's face and in the next moment she was standing in front of Kendria, her swishing bob the only sign she had moved. The face of the woman had a classic, sophisticated look. Black veins spider webbed out from her eyes as they bled black, and her two tiny fists came to clamp down on either of Kendria's shoulders. One hand landed right beside the bloody column of her neck, black fingernails digging like needles into the tender flesh.

"I'm your few-times-great-grandmother, Ophelia," the woman said, adding a malicious giggle to the end of her statement as Kendria gasped in unexpected pain. "You're not as pretty as I thought you would be. I'm not really sure why there's been such a fuss over you."

Thousands of pinpricks of pain shot through Kendria's upper body and she felt her skin tighten, her breathing grew harder, and her vision tunneled to Ophelia and the satisfied grin on her orange-red lips.

Kendria cried out in pain as the claw-like nails wrenched deep into the wound at her neck, and a small pulse started in her lower abdomen. "Stop!" she cried, body struggling against Ophelia's iron hold. Another vicious giggle, another pulse – this one bigger.

"You don't want to play with me? I'm lots of fun," Ophelia simpered.

"Get your hands off me," Kendria growled, and with a violent shove, she sent Ophelia hurtling into the kitchen archway and clattering into the darkness. Time slowed down and speed up in that moment; a surge of power filling Kendria's muscles as Ophelia's nails were wrenched free, and then that pulse inside subsided.

Reappearing, Ophelia gave a humph, making show of fixing her clothes, and stood arms crossed, a fat-lipped pout gracing her features. "Klaus was wrong; you are no fun at all. I don't even know why he wanted to come find you. I'm more than enough Fell for him," she said.

Ophelia Fell, her supposed-to-be-long-dead relative, was sitting in her living, and Kendria just could not stop staring, despite her previous exhaustion. The vampire before her looked like a woman, yet acted like an untamed child. Another part of her brain registered the Klaus comment, but it was best to tackle one thing at a time.

"Why are you here? Better yet how the hell did you get in?" Kendria asked, assuming her confident, Fell face. Nothing could train a woman for a female face off than having Blaire Fell, professional socialite and stone cold bitch, for a mother.

"I'm family dear, and your magic makes you special – not quite human. I only need permission to get in to a human household. Why am I here? I came to get a lay of the land and to see if the rumors were true. Apparently, one of my descendents broke the seal on our family magic. You know, it's just shameful that you are cavorting with those Salvatore brothers. Thanks for interrupting my eternity, by the way. I had plans to take Klaus to a third world country this week and drink it dry – now that vacation has been waylaid. Now it's all about you, and you know what I don't like Kendria, my dear?" Ophelia asked, her expression turning from psychotically bubbly to a stormy malevolence, she broke into a march and came to stand in front of Kendria. "I don't like other people taking my spotlight. See, I lived on the sidelines my whole life, and now that I'm dead, I refuse to go back to that simpering, smiling, simpleton that life once made me. So do not be mistaken in thinking that because we are related I will take kindly to Klaus's currently divided attention."

Kendria stayed silent. Ophelia's voice had taken on a manic edge, and she refused to test her strength against a vampire. God, if only Damon had come home with her, at least she wouldn't be alone in this mess.

Tilting her head in curiosity, Ophelia pierced Kendria with her eyes, "Consider this your warning. I don't share with others, others share with me." Taking a deep, long sniff, Ophelia's eyes closed in a shudder, her black veins rolling outward again only to recede, and finally those big eyes opened back up, perfectly human looking, and she smiled darkly. "I have your scent for life now. Thank you for having me. See ya soon."

Walking boldly passed her, Ophelia nodded her head in mock pleasantness and Kendria returned it with a hard, cold smile, and a harsh, assessing glare. "Next time call first." The apartment door slammed, "Bitch."

Taking a deep steadying breath, Kendria faced her apartment, noted a half-full glass of her best vodka in one of her favorite crystal glasses that currently sported a bright, orange-red lipstick stain. Bitch. Kendria rubbed her aching forehead and her energy began to drop, her body sagging as she locked up for the night and went to bed. She hoped Damon would come by, but she was too tired to stay up and wait for him.

Pulling her clothes off and leaving a trail from her bedroom door to the side of her bed, Kendria finally allowed herself to think of the night's happenings. She wondered where Klaus was and just what kind of trouble she was now in with her great-to-the-umpteenth-power-bitch-of-a-grandmother was going to become. What did she mean about the magic, was it all true? Was the wine glass thing not a fluke? Too tired to think about it, Kendria slipped under the covers. Damon would just have to find a pleasant way to wake her when he got in.

Waking up to the blare of her cell, Kendria shot straight up in bed; her hands clutching the comforter to her chest. Glancing around in the sunlit room, Kendria frowned at her alarm clock which read 9:00am in digital red letters. Where was Damon? Had he never come back last night? Her phone recaptured her attention as she clamored out of bed and snatched it off the dresser by the door. It was Rebecca.

"Hello?" Kendria answered.

"Do you know what that stupid idiot we call a brother did last night?" Rebecca shouted, her voice filling the room as it grew in volume.

Dear God, it was just too damned early in the morning for this, Kendria thought. Sighing, she walked back over to her bed and dropped onto it. "What did he do now?"

"Mr. Action-News decided to take one of Dad's classics from the garage. And then he wrapped it around the tree and now, he's missing."

"What?" Kendria asked alarmed.

"The sheriff called to tell me that she found Dad's car wrapped around a tree and Logan's wallet was in the passenger seat," Rebecca said exasperatedly.

Despite all his faults, Logan was still her brother, and Kendria gripped the phone a little tighter at the thought of him lying dead in a ditch somewhere.

"What's Liz planning to do?" Kendria asked.

Rebecca sighed from the other end of the line, "She's putting out a missing person's and she and few deputies are going to scour the woods where the car was found. I have to call Dad and tell him about his car. Just when I think things are going well for me you and Logan have to come back to town and ruin everything." Click.

Kendria stared at her phone in disbelief for a few seconds before she got out of bed. She'd have to get in a shower, grab something to eat, go down to the sheriff's office, and figure out where her brother was.

Turning the shower on, Kendria stripped off her clothes and waited for the room to fill with steam, the mirror fogging over, and finally she stepped under the hot spray of water. Her mind wandered back to Damon. First her brother goes missing and now Damon was MIA. Lifting her face to the water, Kendria pictured him in his leather jacket and that sexy smirk that twisted her up in side.

'Kendria, come.' The sound of his voice whispered through her mind like a dream. Frowning in alarm, Kendria jerked back the shower curtain and saw that there was no one in the room. Brow furrowed, she drew back the curtain and took her time rinsing the conditioner from her hair. 'Kendria, come. Now.' This time the voice was stronger and Kendria stepped back from under the water and barely caught herself.

Hastily turning off the shower and wrapping a fully cotton towel around herself, Kendria hurried to get out of the bathroom. As she passed the fog covered mirror, she screamed at the reflection; staring back at her was her own image and a drugged up Damon, slumped against the floor, sweat beading on his forehead.

"Damon?" she whispered out loud. When she turned to see him behind her, there was nothing there. "I'm officially going crazy."

Shaking her head, she walked back into the bedroom and changed quickly into a satin violet romper and roman-style sandals. She pulled her long, wet hair into a messy bun and grabbed her keys, sunglasses, and a granola bar on her way out the door.

The hallway was empty as Kendria made her way to the stairs and out the lobby doors. She slid into her car just as her legs gave out and her eyes closed in pain. 'KENDRIA, I need you…come.' Her breathing came in short pants and her eyes stayed closed, those haunting, icy blue eyes pierced the throbbing.

Taking a deep breath, Kendria opened her eyes, started the car, and headed toward the boarding house. Her whole body was humming with the need to find him. Maybe this was a vampire thing. Or a gypsy thing. Whatever it was, Damon needed her.

The boarding house came into full view and she noted no cars in the driveway, not even Damon's. She parked close to the front doors and hopped out. Strands of hair whipped around her face as an unsettlingly cool breeze tore through the air surrounding the house. Each step closer she came to the house, the more strongly the wind blew in her face. Kendria turned her face against the harsh burn of the gusts sweeping in almost horizontal bursts, and knocked loudly on the front door.

'Come.' His voice ordered, softer than before, almost faint.

Not stopping to consider breaking and entering, Kendria heaved the door open, the wind increasing her struggle, until finally she tumbled through the doorway and into the parlor. The formidable oak giant swung shut on its hinges and shuttered angrily as the wind cut off.

Getting her barring, Kendria stood upright and she felt that slow pulse inside and she could hear the constant whisper of Damon's voice. She walked as if in a dream toward the basement and when the doorknob leading down appeared too strong, that pulse grew and then ebbed as the lock clicked open.

"Damon?" Kendria called, following the dreary staircase down and stopping when she heard the raspy breaths behind a barred wooden, cell door. Moving closer, Kendria peered inside and then screamed aloud when Damon went from seated on the cement floor to standing directly in front of the barred window in the door.

Cringing with the movement, Damon leaned heavily on the door for a moment. "Open the door, Kendria."

"What happened? I woke up this morning and you never showed up. And then I started hearing your voice in my head and I thought I was going insane," Kendria asked, sliding the locks out of place and wrenching the wooden door open.

"Just get me out of here," Damon said, staggering forward as Kendria caught him.

"Woah, careful. Let's go. I'm parked right out front," Kendria huffed, attempting to hold the bulk of his weight.

"I need blood," Damon said and then the distinct sound of someone approaching from above made Kendria freeze. "That's Zack. Son of a bitch. I should've killed him when he was bratty teenager."

"Damon," Kendria whispered in chastisement even as she hurried to help him ascend to the ground floor. "Did he do this to you?"

"Long story short, no. But he helped," Damon growled and they paused on the top step when they heard Zack moving around in the kitchen. "Mind if I take just a nip, real quick?" Damon asked Kendria softly, his hand brushing baby hairs off her neck and his lips meeting warm flesh.

"Don't bite too hard," Kendria requested and then she felt the pinch of sharp fangs digging deeply into her still bruised shoulder. The gush of blood sent a rush to her head and her legs locked to keep her standing. When the world started to swim a bit, Kendria slapped at Damon's hand, the one that hand come up to support her waist, and she felt his mouth lift from her throat, and a tongue laved over it to catch the messy trails of blood.

"Delicious," he whispered, pecking her cheek before he set her down on the top step of the stairs, her body sagging in depletion. "You'll be fine. Stay here. I'll be right back."

"Where are you –" Kendria was cut off by a swift breeze as Damon departed and the sound of a loud crack, a thud, and the fridge door opening met her ears. A moment later, Damon reappeared, smiling and in control, a bag of blood held to his mouth as he fed. Blinking rapidly, Kendria shook her head to clear her tilting vision. "I feel dizzy."

Damon held up a finger to signal "just a sec" and drained the contents of the bag, tossed it to down the stairs, and picked her up into his arms bridal style, "I can fix that." Bringing a wrist up to his mouth, he savagely ripped into his veins and forcefully placed it against Kendria's mouth. She struggled for a moment, only because of the uncomfortable position and because Damon had never made her taste him this way before. She looked into his eyes, trying to zone out, and when he pulled away and helped her to her feet, she felt good as new.

"What's going on?" Kendria asked, following him to the entrance and she watched with wide eyes as he sauntered up to the door only to hiss and blur into the shadows. The smell of sizzling flesh and burned hair filled the entryway and Kendria rushed to his side. "What happened?"

"My brother, the saint, and a couple of his witchy friends have decided to teach me a lesson. He thinks he can lock me away and deal with me later. Fortunately for me, Steffie's unoriginal, something I more than make up for. We're going to sit here and wait till the sun goes down and then I'm going to hunt down my little brother and have a brotherly chat," Damon answered, his teeth gritted from the pain of his burnt hand and face. "He stole my daylight ring."

"Damon, I can't stay here all day. My brother's been missing since last night. I need to help find him." Kendria told him. She smoothed a gentle hand over his already-healing face and kissed his hand.

Something flickered across his face before Damon leaned in and pulled her into a long, slow, searing kiss. He was saying something with his kiss, but Kendria wasn't sure what it was – desperation, anger, need, passion, pain – all of the above. She wanted to wrap her arms around him and hold him till the sun went down, but she had her own brother to deal with.

"Are you going to be okay here?" Kendria asked.

Nodding, he released her, straightened his shirt, donned his smirk, and said, "I'm always okay. Once the sun goes down and I get my ring back, I'll come find you. If you're brother's still missing, I'll be able to find him."

One last kiss and Kendria hurried to her waiting car, and it was only as she was pulling away from the boarding house that she remembered Zack was in the kitchen, and then another moment to realize she completely forgot to tell Damon about her crazy ancestor who just came back to town. That would have to wait until later, Kendria decided.

Three hours of searching the local woods and Kendria was about ready to give up. The sun was starting to set and the sky was a blazing tangerine with whirls of pink and purple, and the search team was about ready to give up. The giant trees created a cover of shadows the deeper Kendria went, and when she came to a copse of trees, she saw something that chilled her. Turning her police-issued flashlight on, Kendria shown the light on the barks of the trees and saw blood smeared across the trunks. Getting closer, Kendria's breathing quickened and she held the plastic flashlight tightly to her chest. Reaching the circle of trees and foliage, Kendria looked between two tall, thick-trunked trees and screamed. Her voice echoed through the woods and she heard the crunching of branches as boots and police dogs made noisily in her direction. There, lying among the loam was her brother, Logan, lying face down, head to the side, torn up and ravaged, but decidedly whole. His blood was splattered over the bark, his blood was soaking into the ground, and a gut-twisting shiver ran through her body, as Kendria dropped like a lodestone to the moist soil and forest debris.

"Kendria!" Sheriff Forbes called. Her authoritative tone gained a small response.

"I'm here," Kendria called mildly, her eyes glued to her brother's corpse.

The sound of tromping feet greeted Kendria as the search team arrived, and Liz dropped down to the forest floor beside her with an emergency blanket at the ready. She turned to see Logan's mutilated body and bit back a cry of her own. The blanket went around Kendria's shoulders as deputies swarmed the grove and back up was called in.

"Come on, up we go. I'm going to take you back to the station," Liz whispered reassuringly, her motherly tone too much for Kendria to handle without breaking down.

Shivers started to race up and down her spine as Kendria fought off sobs, and she kept seeing flashes of Logan in her mind. His life was a reel of snapshots in her mind: Logan getting his first article published in the school paper; Logan graduating college; Logan fighting with their father before leaving Mystic Falls; Logan coming back – Logan lying torn and bloody on the forest floor, his favorite blue, pinstripe shirt shredded, his khaki pants stained with blood.

"Kendria? How are you doing?" Liz asked gently, as they pulled up in front of the station. She tilted her head inquisitively as she cut the engine, and Kendria gave her a nod.

"Ok," Kendria said. She looked up as the street lights came on and saw Damon standing on the sidewalk outside the car. Something in his expression said he knew, and Kendria practically tore off her seatbelt and vaulted out the passenger door and into his arms. She started to sob heavily and her body relied on his strength to keep her from meeting the ground. His protective, strong arms wrapped around her and his lips pressed against the top of her head and his hands roamed her back soothingly.

"He's dead, Damon. My brother is dead," Kendria cried, her fingers gripping him till they were a mottled red and white. "I don't know what to do."

"I'll take you home," he said, and she heard him exchange a whispered conversation with Liz Forbes before taking her keys and settling her into the passenger seat.

They were heading toward her apartment until she remembered she hadn't told Rebecca yet. "Oh God. I have to see Rebecca."

Damon glanced at her from the driver's seat. She noticed he had changed and his ring was back on his finger. His face was grim, but when she met his eyes, he forced a smile.

"We'll talk to her first thing in the morning. Right now you need to eat, shower, and go to bed. Damon's orders," Damon said, and Kendria curled up closer to him, absorbing his comfort.

The street outside her apartment building was usually well lit, but one of the lamps was out in front of the entrance. The usual night shift doorman had vacated his post, and Kendria's skin started to pebble with goose bumps. Something was wrong.

Damon parked her baby and insisted on carrying her to the building, as they drew closer, Kendria saw the usual doorman, Frank, slumped in his chair, a piece of paper pinned to his chest, a red spot blooming on the note.

"Oh my God. Is he dead? Damon?" Kendria started to hyperventilate even though Damon shushed her, and he tore the note pinned to Frank's slumped shoulder and read it.

"Nobody's safe. See ya soon, Ophelia," Damon read aloud and all the blood drained from Kendria's face. Frank must have tried to stop Ophelia from entering the building. Cringing, Kendria buried her face in Damon's shoulder. "Ophelia? As in Ophelia Fell? Care to share, Kendria?"

"She was in my apartment last night when I got back and she was completely deranged. She's a vampire. Frank's dead. Logan's dead and now Frank too. Do you think…" Kendria gasped for a calming breath, "Do you think she killed Logan too?"

Damon ran a frustrated hand through his dark hair and sighed. "I don't know. Maybe. I'd have to check out the body. I'm going to get rid of this guy. Go upstairs, get changed, lock your door, and I'll be up soon. Don't invite anyone in." His fierce gaze ordered compliance, and Kendria nodded as she watched Damon heft her night doorman over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

In a blur he was gone and Kendria rushed inside her building and up to her room. She raced up the stairs to her apartment and speed to open the door. Turning to lock it behind her, Kendria heard the sound of shuffling feet. A hand came down over her mouth and Kendria shrieked in terror before something hard connected with her head and it was lights out.

_**Author's Note:** _Well I'm official out of school for summer. I just finished my last final yesterday and I thought I'd start off the summer with an update. I hope you guys enjoyed it. I appreciate all the reviews and I look forward to more. Until next time, Egyptian Kiss!


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